


In A Race

by Three_eyed_raven



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Dawn of the Dragon Racers, F/F, Getting to Know Each Other, Going to places I guess, Hinata Shouyou & Kageyama Tobio Friendship, Hinata Shouyou & Kozume Kenma Friendship, Minor Character Death, Roommates, Strangers to Lovers, Street Racing, Tokyo (City), Volleyball, just mentioned
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-19
Updated: 2021-01-26
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:06:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 24,558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27633163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Three_eyed_raven/pseuds/Three_eyed_raven
Summary: They met in a race. Having no idea where it will end.'I'm sorry I'm bad at it, I mean they all are stupid.
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou/Miya Atsumu
Comments: 4
Kudos: 25





	1. The Ticket web

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: This is basically based on one of my weird dreams, so if you think it's weird than heck it is. And it's my first time so whole writing is a little awkward but I promise I will get better with chapters. Till then bear with me.
> 
> Thanks

It’s one of July’s hot sunny days. Hinata had a half-day off in a long time, he had this one because apparently, his boss can’t wait to see his newborn baby.

Walking through his office’s corridor, he realised most people already left. When Passing by his senior officer’s room, he noticed the window was open so decided to take a peek. Iwaizumi is still immersed in his work, he was typing something on his keyboard. He liked his dedication toward work. He truly respects people with passion and guts. Iwaizumi is truly passionate about machinery design, on the contrary, he only does it for living and survival. He is truly not passionate about anything, he just gets bored easily.

His thoughts drifted how newborn holds hands when they are born, how everyone in the family starts dancing with euphoria. But he couldn’t understand the notion of this whole scenario.

it‘s not that he doesn't have a baby born before. He literally saw his little sister growing in front of him but still the idea of getting this excited doesn’t sit through him. He isn’t the very grumpy and rebellious sort of person of either. In fact in the past, Because of his extra glee personality, people often used to ask him if he was crazy but most of his friends loved him because of his smile and extra personality. 

He is not the same obviously, people grow and learn from observation from mistakes and friend’s mistakes. He isn’t that crazy laughing sun anymore. But that doesn’t mean he is sad and depressed either. It’s just things that come with time and age. But he is still blunt about the point he thinks need to made and focused. No one should curb their opinion, he is a strong believer of this fact.

He was about to reach the exit and then, he knocked out of his thoughts and realised it’s sunny. It’s been long since he walked under the sun. It’s always fun, but it ruins everything when the sun starts scorching. Today wasn’t one of those days. So he decided to walk a few blocks because he didn’t feel like taking the subway with hot swarming bodies, and sunlight felt good on the skin. 

Crossing the street he realised Oikawa’s car is still in the parking lot. Oikawa is a good friend even though they work for the same post, Oikawa always acts superior not in a rude way. He is just cute and entrancing in his way, they are good friends. Sometimes he gets all nosy other than that Oikawa is one of those people he likes to hang out with, because of the bubbly persona he lights up everything. 

After walking through a few blocks he saw a cat lying on the bench and petted the cat, she let out a cute meowl. He started smiling to himself and left. Crossing a few blocks, he saw his above 190CM long neighbour at the garage. His height and physical strength is something you can call god’s perfection, most people who know nothing about him will think he is some scary WWE wrestler and children often run away from him. Hinata’s opinion wouldn’t have been different if they weren’t neighbours.   
Aone is a cute awkward neighbour, who would like to shove their cup in your face when he runs out of tea. Likes to help anyone when he sees them struggling with parcels or heavy objects. This is how they both start talking to each other. When one-day Hinata’s mom decided to send him his old study table from god knows what year. Aone saw him struggling in the elevator so stepped in to help him. After that, they crossed each other’s way in the complex many times, but all Aone did was bow his head.

He was intrigued after seeing Aone at the garage, cause he always saw Aone riding in the back of his Motorbike. So probably he wasn’t here for getting something repaired. After all, he had nothing to do so he stopped by to say hello to him.   
As usual, Aone said nothing much; they just bowed their heads. Looking inside the garage Hinata noticed there is this guy with a big motorbike tattoo on his arm and pierced lips, who is standing on a 2 feet high podium. He was distributing some kind of ticket and exchanging money.

Hinata stepped further in the garage to know something about tickets and events. Two guys who were standing beside him were discussing

“Did you hear there is a new racer which is joining the white panther team?”  
“No, but this time also I would bet on Cheetah because Suna rintarou is my favourite. And I can bet today he will win. That new fucker can only dream about this” 

Hinata never watched live street racing before, but since he has time on his hands today. So he decided to buy a ticket, and then thought of his roommate and decided to buy two. 

In case, Kenma decides to step out of his slumber after work. And move his legs other than using the bathroom. Kenma is a freelance graphic designer, he handles most of his projects from home. So all day he is just stuck to that stupid computer and laptop of his and not to mention his gaming addiction. Sometimes he plays for 12 hours straight in gaming leagues. But he is passionate about what he does so it’s all legit.  
Other than Kenma he has one more roommate Shirabu. Shirabu isn’t the particularly bad guy. He is just not a very social person. Sometimes He is a little intimidating when he sees dishes in the sink, a pile of cloth near the washer, unfolded clothes on the table. He is just a little perfectionist. Kenma and Shirabu don’t hit off as expected because one likes to do what he pleases and the other wants everything with the order. 

But sometimes Hinata finds them watching the movie, playing gang beasts together. Arguing how most teammates are dumb and don’t use their brain while playing. Leaving with these guys is the most adventurous thing in Hinata’s life.

All that walking made him hungry, so he stopped by this takoyaki store, it’s a small and authentic takoyaki shop. Filling they use is fresh and this is what Hinata liked about this place, He got himself two packed plates of takoyaki.   
Timing for the race is 11 PM so he had lots of time in his hand to get fresh and rest and fill his belly and mostly to convince Kenma to come along with him.

After reaching the complex he said hello to the guard. This old guard Akio is always smiling at him and giving him compliments about his fluffy orange hair. He doesn’t get what's so great about having this hair, he knows it’s rare and soft all but he still doesn’t get it.  
When he finally reached his apartment he entered the pin code. Took out his shoes at the entrance near their shoe rack. This isn’t the most luxurious apartment but it is not one of the worst kinds either. They have 3 rooms for each of them one shared hall and 2 bathrooms and 1 kitchen, and it’s enough for them to live peacefully without worrying about disturbing someone’s privacy.  
Walls in the apartment are painted with white and flouring is done with green marble and furniture with light olive green colour. This whole setting unwinds Hinata. 

He noticed shirabu’s oxford was lying outside of the shelf. He wondered why his other roommate came early. His thoughts were answered by irritated shirabu “I literally hate this client, his demands keep changing every time we deliver a framework of the whole project, next time he says anything I’m going to smash his head in the canteen waste”

“That’s understandable but why are you shouting the same thing from the last 5 minutes?” kenma asked  
They both didn’t seem to notice Hinata in the entrance.  
“Oh, there is this goddamn file which has all the initial details of this project. And I couldn’t find it.”  
“Weren’t you packed all of your old files in a cardboard box and said you never gonna need it” Hinata interrupted   
Shirabu clapped his hands and responded, “oh yes, I have them all in a box. Thanks, Hinata you are a lifesaver” and left for his room.  
Shirabu is a product manager at an IT firm. All Hinata understood about his work is they deliver some sort of sites and apps to people as per their need and it pays well.

“What happened to you, why did you come back early, as much as I can remember you don’t get sick easily so what brings you,” Kenma asked.

“Oh my boss had a baby he wanted to see their baby and our manager was also absent, so he just gave our department half-day off” Hinata replied with a smile   
“oh”  
“So what did you do today?” he asked this because Kenma was splayed on their sofa and it’s quite unusual seeing him without a laptop and Nintendo switch.

“Nothing. I just finished a project and that game I was playing kept freezing so it killed my whole mood. And now I’m lying here and thinking about moving to Himalayan and cutting off all my connections from people here and growing vegetables ” Kenma replied lazily

Hinata laughed at this comment of his roommate, these sort of comments always remind him how much kenma hates people.  
“Got it,” shirabu exclaimed.  
“Told you, and punch that client if he asks for more” Hinata said jokingly   
“Yeah” with this shirabu left for his office again.

“So, why don’t you come with me tonight. There is this street race ticket I just bought. And I never watched a live race so let’s go” Hinata asked even though he knew the reply

“No”  
“Hey, let’s go. I have nothing to do with you, as far as I can see. It’s good to go out Once in a while. And as I heard from people it seems interesting. And I will let you have this takoyaki I just bought if you come with me”

“Most things that people think are interesting are boring and repetitive, but I would go to that race” Kenma replied

“Oh, let’s get takoyaki before it gets cold,” Hinata clapped his hands and said.  
“I forgot to ask shirabu if he wants takoyaki”

“He was getting late so he wouldn’t have anyway, so let’s get it” Kenma explained

“Yeah”

Hinata left for the kitchen and took out 2 plates from the drawer. There wasn’t any dish in the sink and all kitchen was clean

“Did you wash all the dishes and cleaned the whole kitchen??” Hinata asked in awe while entering the hall with a set of plate

“Yes”   
“What I can’t believe, you did all this without someone negging you ” Hinata laughed and sat on the sofa.  
“If I wouldn’t have the whole kitchen would have started stinking and it was my turn to do dishes anyway and guess what I don’t love shirabu’s negging” Kenma explained while getting up from the sofa.  
“Oh, this explains” 

Hinata started unpacking takoyaki. And gave kenma his plate and chopsticks.

“Kuroo just bought another apartment in Tokyo, and he invited us for a drink. And he is also willing to throw a party when our schedules match. He said he will invite our other college friends who are living in Tokyo. Saying it would be nice to get together” Kenma told

Kuroo and Kenma used to be roommates in college. Their room was next to Hinata’s. Kenma wasn’t friendly with anyone back then also, but he always used to go out with Hinata. Most people thought it’s weird and special, but it was like a normal friend for Hinata. They hang out to eat and discuss any sort of stuff. It wasn’t awkward for Hinata after all his roommate was Kageyama.   
A real awkward goofball. Not a type to bother others, they both weren’t so great at studies. Opposite of kenma and Kuroo. But Kageyama was great and in his way. He had exceptional maths, but he barely passed other subjects. Right now Kageyama is pursuing his MS in Germany.

Suddenly he found himself missing Kageyama and wished they could hang out when he came back.

“Let’s go and meet him next Sunday, till then he will settle in his new apartment”   
“Oh, this reminds me who is helping him move anyway?” Hinata adds

“It’s yaku and one of his peeps from the company, You know how quickly he bonds” Kenma explains.  
“Huh”

Because of Kuroo’s exceptional marks in all subjects and best representation skills, he got a job as sales manager of Mercedes. God has favourites. Kuroo is an example of this, He has good height, athletic body, handsome face, intelligence and sharp tongue. He was the most popular guy on the college and hostel campus. Hinata thinks his popularity is deserved. Kenma thought the same but he would never accept this in front of him. After all, they are childhood friends and neighbours.

“By the way where is this street race of yours?” Kenma asks

“Oh, it starts from north of the Bayshore Route of the Shuto Expressway and ends at the west, at least this is what he told me. And there is a different racing group each group sends their best racer for the race and people place bets on them. Higher the bet higher prize money” Hinata explained while poking at his takoyaki and picking it.

“Sounds similar to horse racing,” Kenma said while munching.  
“Ain’t it illegal?” Kenma asked by putting his plate down and getting up from the sofa to fetch a water bottle.

“Don’t know but it sounds fun and thrilling and for me right now fun matters. I don’t get much off and usually I get tired after doing my boring office work”  
“Hey get me water too” Hinata adds

Kenma passed bottle in his hand to Hinata  
They ate in silence and finished their food. Hinata got up and picked his and Kenma’s plate and went to the kitchen and threw food packaging in the dustbin. And started washing dishes. After washing dishes, he went to change his office outfit into a more normal one. And moved to the hall where he and kenma both sat down together and started using their phone. 

After a good 30 minutes, Kenma proposed the idea of watching the new Demon slayer movie together. They both moved to kenma’s room, it has a better quality speaker and screen. When Hinata was new in Tokyo he knew nothing about places and apartments, at that time Kenma was the only one who called him and offered to stay with him.

When the movie finished it was already 7, Hinata went to his room to get some rest. After that, he has to prepare dinner too. In the meantime, he folded some of his laundries and neatly placed them on the wardrobe. He felt the need to take a shower.

After showering Hinata started preparing for Dinner. After asking Kenma what he wanted and texting Shirabu asking what he wants for dinner.   
He decided to cook some udon and miso soup for dinner. Shirabu usually arrives home by 8:30. So he decided to do it a little fast because he must be starving after a long day at work.

He was draining water from noodles then suddenly his hand twitched and half of the noodles fell into the sink. He cursed he usually does not but this time he cursed. Such things always have to happen when you are in a hurry.  
“What happened?” Kenma asked even after seeing Hinata dropping half of the noodles in the sink.  
“Nothing much, Can you chop some green onion for me?” Hinata asked  
“Yeah”  
With that kenma started chopping green onions. With Kenma's help, cooking finished in less time compared to Hinata’s estimated time.

Shirabu reached the apartment at his usual time. When he entered he was welcomed with the smell of miso soup. He was grateful for his roommates to prepare dinner before his arrival.

“I’m home” he announced   
“I’m going to take a quick bath and change into pyjamas, wait for me,” Shirabu added quickly before Hinata and Kenma could reply.

The three were silently eating dinner and then Kenma accidentally spilt  
“Hinata if we both are going to watch street race, we need to finish the remaining task fast and get changed quickly”   
And soon realises his mistake and stares wide-eyed at shirabu from the corner of his eyes he noticed Hinata was doing the same.   
Shirabu stilled for a second and then continued slurping his udon.

Once when they all were finished eating. Hinata quickly collected all the dishes and washed them and cleaned the kitchen.

He told kenma to get changed, who was watching some sort of video with shirabu.  
“Ohk ” Kenma replied

They both quickly changed, Hinata wore his another basic black Calvin Klein T-shirt. Kenma also wore one of his basic T-shirts and jeans.

When they both were shirabu unexpectedly told them to be safe and return home faster.   
“If you get in some kind of problem I’m not going to ruin my sleep” he added  
At this three of them started laughing.

After walking a few feet away from the apartment Hinata said

“You should consider before speaking anything”

“It’s impossible for me to remember all of the details, after all, I’m human too and I also make mistakes.”

“Oh, ok”

“And above all, he should consider getting help, after all that happened”

“Kenma you are really blunt sometimes, but this time I agree with you it’s ok to get help when you need it”  
“Yeah ” Kenma sighed.


	2. In a race

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Yeah” I should ask him if I could touch his hair, they seem fluffy, Atsumu thought

They both entered the elevator, Hinata pressed on the ground floor button. He looked to his right and Kenma was scrolling through youtube, Hinata wondered how can a guy only watch video game streaming videos on youtube and nothing else. Elevator chimed and 2 mid-age women entered the elevator. They both bowed and shifted in corners.

As the elevator reached the ground floor they waited for women to get out first.  
As soon as they get out of the complex gate. A guy bumped head with Hinata, they both muttered sorry altogether and moved. As Hinata was about to leave the guy called Hinata.  
“Hey?”  
After turning back and seeing a clear face of the guy. Hinata instantly recognises him.  
He is the motorbike guy, Aone hangs out with.  
“Yeah” Hinata replied.

“Have you by any chance come across Aone in the corridor? '' the guy asked.  
“Not now, but I met him at the garage two blocks away from here this afternoon”  
“Oh, Thank you so much” with that guy moved to his motorbike and left.

They both called for a taxi. And told the driver address, and he asked them if they were going to watch a street race. Hinata said yes.

“I didn’t know it’s that popular here,” Kenma said  
“Neither I did, I think we both need to explore Tokyo”  
“Yeah”  
“For that, you need to stop exploring maps of video games and Can you do that?” Hinata laughed  
“I can’t stop it, but I can certainly take a little time out of schedule,” Kenma explained with a little frown.

To be honest, Hinata doesn’t remember when was the last time, they went out like this to have fun. Everyone seems to be so busy with work, that they completely forgot what having fun looks like. And even if they get Saturday Sunday off, all three of them would just do laundry, clean the whole place and sleep.

“Don’t you think we need to change our schedule a little bit, we just pile all of our work till Saturday and spend our whole time managing that chaos. And forgot to have fun. Isn’t the weekend for fun. We are too lazy to get out and do things” Hinata suggested

At this kenma remained silent for a moment and then spoke  
“I agree with you, let’s do a little vacuum cleaning daily so that we won’t have a crazy amount of garbage to sweep out of the apartment on weekends ”

“I agree”  
“Then it’s done, we are doing this right?” Hinata added

“Yeah,” Kenma replied lazily and got busy on his phone again.

Most of the ride was silent. The silence felt quite relaxing to Hinata. He listened to the low rumbling of the engine, focused on his breath. All of the thoughts seem to melt away. His body felt light. It was healing. He can feel new positive and calm energy running through his body. Silence with people you are comfortable with always feels nice, euphoric, and relaxing.

He decided he should drag kenma out more often, and smiled to himself.

He looked at a digital watch in-car. It says 10:15. They are literally so early. Maybe they should have sat with the shirabu a little more. But they can’t go back now. They are almost there after 90 minutes of the ride.

After 15 minutes of the ride, the car stopped and the driver announced their arrival. Kenma insisted on paying

“You bought ticket and takoyaki, now it’s my turn”

Hinata was a little irritated at this, he does not want his friends to worry about such payments and little things. But he accepted at last. Cause Kenma is the most stubborn guy he ever met. Once he won a gamathon(gaming marathon) in college, but when they called his name on stage for the prize. He refused to go and receive it because he didn’t feel like it and wanted to eat watermelon.

“It 10:30 only, we are too early” Hinata announced  
“We could’ve spent time with shirabu”  
“I also thought so”  
“Hmm”

They started walking on the bridge, mostly there were teenagers and college students. There were people in their early twenties just like them but with their partners. 

“Did you happen to buy and come across this race because of that iron wall?”

“Yeah, I was walking home and then I met him at the garage. And that’s from where I happen to get these tickets.” Hinata explained

“Sounds legit, otherwise on what world machinery geeks from your company would go to such a world, I wonder if they even know how watching movies feel?” 

“Come on we know better, Better than looking at a blue screen for the whole day, or rotting in a cubicle ” Hinata mocked with laughter in his voice.

“It’s called sitting in your comfort zone and controlling the whole world, you ape ”

“You call sitting in that chair peanut cubicle comfort zone?”

“Yes at least for me, I don’t want unnecessary people peeking at my stuff or things I do”

“Oh come on all you do is play the video game, and what sort of privacy you need in that” Hinata laughed

“Why are you speaking like you know everything about everything I do, This is not all I do,” Kenma said this with a straight face.

“Yeah, yeah I don’t know everything but I know least, after all, I knew you from 6 years” 

“Assume, what you want to” Kenma said with a sigh

“By the way, I heard Overwatch's new season is coming to an end this January. What’s your current rank right now?”

“Weren’t you complaining about me being a gaming freak, a few moments ago?”  
“No, I wasn’t all I told you, how this is everything you do, besides your job and basic functional human activities”

At this kenma frowned a little and spoke after a few minutes.

“My current rank is 9, I am just stuck at a level and it’s frustrating ”

“Oh wow, You are really awesome Kenma, I played that game for some good days and couldn’t make it under 500 my rank was some 662 ish” Hinata beamed with admiration at his roommate

“Thanks, It’s nothing great,” Kenma said looking at the ground  
“It is,” Hinata said with a smile 

As they reached the end of the bridge. 

“This is a famous mochi shop. Everyday there's a TikTok video from here,” Kenma said, indicating towards a shop in the corner.

“Do you want to eat?” Hinata asked

“We just had dinner, I am not in the mood”  
“Let’s get one and we both can share. How about this?”

After giving it a thought Kenma agreed.

As they entered parlour there weren’t many people in there. There was a show playing; they both recognised this show, they used to watch in college. So, there was no chance that they got bored while waiting for their mochi to arrive.

“Let’s get shirabu mochi too”  
“Yeah, we couldn’t offer takoyaki, so let’s get it”

Kenma told the waitress to pack a mochi too. She told him that it will take little time as they already have so many home deliver orders in a row.

As their mochi arrived they both started eating it peacefully while waiting for their package. That show has the funniest character, everyone was laughing.

After finishing their mochi, they moved to the counter to pay the bill and pick their package.  
Kenma insisted on paying, Hinata let him. Hinata’s eyes suddenly moved towards the corner table they were sitting on. Now a couple is sitting there. He checked the time on his phone.

It’s 11:15

“Oh god, we are late Kenma. The race has been already started” Hinata said with slight panic  
“We got late because of this show”  
“Yeah, let’s go and watch what we can” Hinata didn’t feel much frustration and bad because he had a good time with his friend and he does not regret it.

As soon as they were done paying, they walked a little faster than their usual pace. After some good walking, they reached the venue. There weren’t many people on the street, most shops were already closed. It was in the outskirts of Tokyo. So having a competitive race here is quite explanatory.

A final start point which is also the endpoint of the race. There were a good amount of people, not a crazy crowd. Kenma hates crowds, Hinata doesn’t have a problem with the crowd.

People were hooting whenever a racer overtook others and made a crazy sharp turn. There was this good LED with HD display. They weren’t crazy about it but watched it anyway. 

After a point because of the crowd or atmosphere maybe both. They both found themself sighing whenever someone was about to be crushed. They didn’t know much so they eavesdrop on people nearby them.

“This new guy from white panther is crazy, who the hell makes Such crazy sharp turns, it’s almost touching the ground”  
“Do you know his name?”  
“He is miya something, I don’t remember the full name”  
“Miya onigiri?” Guy said jokingly  
“No, he is his twin. I heard”  
“What? I just made wild guess”

That miya guy’s turns and twists were really sharp. Most people were calling him show off and all. But Hinata liked it, this feeling is quite the opposite of one he felt in the car, but still felt the same in a way. It’s the energy that fills someone with life and adrenaline, It’s feeling that makes him want to do the wildest thing he could ever dream of. In the beginning he wasn’t sure if he would like it, but he likes it. He can feel kenma’s excited and focused gaze. 

“Suna is going to win again” a guy nearby shouted.

That guy in the white suit and black lining has to be suna, he is in lead from the start. He sure experienced, he avoided crazy turns and crowding and believed in sneaking past most racers. But above all his body was quite flexible. He was like a snake. Yes, a snake flexible cunning fast, Hinata thought to himself. Guy following him was also great obviously not as flexible as him but he was also good, he was wearing a green jacket with white lining. Hinata wondered from what team he belonged.

In the third position, there was this so-called Miya. His sight was astonishing. He truly loved risk, you can tell it. Every turn he took was crazy, seeing him in the race was truly a sight. He was wearing a black jacket with white lining, Hinata wondered if this had anything to do with their respective teams.

Every time Miya takes a crazy turn the girl nearby him will gasp and cover her eyes with hands And says.  
“I hope he doesn’t slip or lose his balance, if I were him I would have vomited my guts out, or maybe split my head into two parts”

It was indeed dangerous, but this also made him feel alive. So his eyes were only on that black jacket guy, whatever his name is.

End race results weren’t much different, first is suna but there was crazy competition for the second position between green and black jacket guy,

A guy standing next to them announced the results; First is Suna rintarou from Cheetah, second is Tsukishima Kei from Sendai frogs and third is Miya Atsumu from the White panther. 

All three of them removed their helmets and came to greet the announcement guy.

“I don’t know what Monsters like you still doing here” Tsukishima commented

“Well, if four eyes guys like you could be here, so why am I not” Suna replied with what seems like a sly smile.

Tsukishima was quite long, Hinata just noticed, he didn’t have much built, But overall he looked good. Suna wasn’t as tall as Tsukishima, he has narrow eyes and a cute bean hairstyle. Atsumu has bicolour hair, he is slightly taller than suna and smaller than tsukishima, he has quite a built.

He saw Atsumu bickering with some other guy who looks exactly like him but has grey hair. He must be the Onigiri twin guy people are talking about. 

Most people from the crowd were showering their love to Suna and congratulating him for another big win, that panicked girl from earlier is now talking to Tsukishima guy. Atsumu is alone bickering with his brother. 

Hinata felt a need to encourage the guy since most people were just calling him reckless and crazy.

“Hey kenma, I’m returning in 2 minutes. Wait for me here” Hinata asked  
“Ohk” Kenma replied flatly  
Hinata moved towards atsumu, he wondered if it would be rude of him to say anything to this guy. After not winning the race. He went on it anyway

“I was stuck somewhere that’s why I was 5 minutes late, will you shut your trap? Or is this your way of taking out frustration for not winning the race?” The guy with grey hair spoke but looked at Hinata as soon as he saw him approaching towards them.

Atsumu followed his brother’s eyes only to encounter a cute orange-haired guy. He was cute but also had a good built and he looked stronger. 

“Hello, excuse me? Atsumu?”

“Yeah” I should ask him if I could touch his hair, they seem fluffy, Atsumu thought

“I like your turns and control in the race, It felt much lively, you did a great job. I enjoyed it ” Hinata blurted out with a smile

At this, Atsumu's ear got red. He can’t believe it, where everyone kept scolding him for being reckless. Someone complimented him, let alone this cute guy with the most beautiful smile.

“Oh, you have got yourself a fan now”, his twin blurted out

“Shut up!!! Osamu” Atsumu shouted

“There is nothing like that. It's just my first time watching the race, I don’t know much about these things anyway. I just spoke what I felt like”

“Thank you so much for being honest” Atsumu genuinely thanked

“Yeah, keep doing your best, Bye,” Hinata said

“Yeah, I will if you keep coming to watch, bye” Atsumu blurted out before he could realise, and immediately facepalm.

Hinata didn’t say much he just smiled and uttered a goodnight to both and left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is just a small chunk of my dream, like the last part of this chapter. Other than it's just plot 
> 
> Thanks for leaving kudos.
> 
> Please comment and let me know is everything is good, or something is wrong with any part.


	3. The washing machine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Subway is filled with tons of people, as usual, everything's the same if you take a subway on your way to the office or office to home. They make life more monotonous actually. It’s like looking at a washing machine spinning your clothes. It's the most boring thing to ever do. No one would willingly do that; it's a waste of time but completion of your task, subway works in the same way. But this time you are a cloth, a part of the process

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's really a late update, I'm sorry I couldn't work on it. I have been sick from a week so it was sort of hard to do anything.

They both took an uber on their way. It was 12:15 when they left for home. Tokyo looked so beautiful at night. There isn’t much rush either, so many guys who seem to stop by liquor shops on their way home.

Hinata can’t help but smile to himself at last interaction with Atsumu, and he convinced himself that there is no way he is going to watch the race again at least not before these 2 in coming weeks because they are probably going to see Kuroo next Sunday, and another reason this time he wants to go out with shirabu too. Atsumu seems like an easygoing guy, this is all Hinata could conclude from their first interaction.

“This is weird,” Kenma tells him

“What is weird?” Hinata said collecting himself from the thoughts 

“You are just smiling in this weird way since we left race”

“Oh, maybe I’m just excited to see more races. They are thrilling” Hinata explained

“Or maybe this is how you look when you are interested in something, I never saw you interested in anything particularly. Apart from times when we watch any sports event.” Kenma said while scrunching his nose

“Sports are thrilling, and racing is a sport too,” Hinata reasoned.

Kenma nodded and started looking outside. Hinata takes a deep breath, the smell of air freshener in the car is pleasing, not too pungent and overtaking just smooth and relaxing. He leans further into his seat, almost slumping and closes his eyes. He feels like taking a nap.

“I’m taking a nap, wake me when we reach” Hinata announced

He slipped into a nap quite faster than he assumed we would.

Hinata opened his eyes and they were still in the car.  
“Are we going to America? How long it’s going to take”

Kenma had his ears stuffed with earphones so he probably didn’t listen.

He took out his phone from pocket and checked he only slept for 30 minutes, it’s 1:10 now. He checked his WhatsApp and shirabu sent a picture in their group, he clicked to download it. It was a meme, smiling that he sent laughing emojis back.

Sighing he straightened himself and it also looks like they are about to reach. Looking outside he realised they are inner-city now, which Hinata is more familiar with. His usual way to the office and subway and restaurant they usually go out to eat whenever they don’t feel like cooking, Which is funny because it’s usually Saturday and Sunday other than those two days they would just eat instant ramen or some instant food.

There wasn’t much traffic on the highway, nights like this are incredibly comfortable they make you realise how small your problems are, it’s just a beautiful way of getting rid of all soreness from work.  
It must have felt far better on the motorbike pleasant breeze touching you and sweeping your hair back with a sense of freedom and will to fly, he used to ride a bicycle in his school days. Men those were days he used to ride a bicycle for a whole freaking 10 kilometres back then.

Speed of their uber is slowed down and they both realise they are at the front gate of their apartment, they were so busy in themself to realise, Hinata in thoughts and kenma in-game.  
Hinata paid for their ride, And uttered gratitude towards the driver.

As he stepped outside a pleasant wind hit his face. He suddenly felt more awake than before. They took the elevator, Kenma also seemed tired, he was holding on to the package of mochi like his life which made Hinata chuckle.

“Wanna sleep?”

“Obviously, I want to sleep. Are you planning something else? In that case, I would like to remind you that tomorrow is not any of your weekdays, so you have to go office” 

“No, I’m not. Just asking”

They reached their floor at almost 1:40. Kenma typed their passcode on reaching the apartment. 

On hearing the clicking of the door beep, shirabu wakes up. He saw Kenma and Hinata taking out their shoes, and Kenma was also holding some package in his hand. He picked his phone from the table to check the time.

“Do you guys realise? How much late are you?”

“At least say ‘welcome home’ before nagging us,” Kenma said while squinting his eyes.

“Come on it was far from our place. we also stopped by to have some mochi and we also bought it for you,” Hinata said with a pout and suddenly breaking into a laugh.

“Ohk, mochi accepted and now you both can sleep too” shirabu started laughing Hinata’s laugh was indeed contagious.

“Let’s go out together next time” Hinata suggested and walked to freeze straight to grab a water bottle

“Yeah, This is what I was thinking whole time” shirabu piqued

“We are also going to vacuum daily, so we won’t have shit loads of garbage on Sunday,” Kenma added and walked over to the sofa and handed shirabu his mochi package.

“Thank you, they smell nice”he opened package a little to smell

“I’m going to sleep goodnight” with that kenma left

“Yeah me too, goodnight” 

“Well let’s eat this tomorrow and goodnight” with that shirabu reached for their freeze and put mochi in the container and left for his room.

“Do you think he dyed his hair? What kind of shampoo he uses?” 

“Well, I was thinking the same,” Osamu replied, his hands on hips staring at the sky, not much is visible in Tokyo’s night sky but sky always gives the feeling of vastness.

“Who is this guy? You both are talking about”, Suna asked, putting on his helmet.

“Oh, there was this guy with orange hair not taller and an extremely cute smile. He also praised me for my performance in the race ” Atsumu said while grinning widely from ear to ear.

“About those stunts, do you really want the attention so bad that you put your life at stack” Suna insults Atsumu with a straight face that made Osamu laugh 

“He is attention whore” Osamu commented

“Osamu, I will not cook breakfast for you from now on” before Atsumu could finish his sentence Osamu replies, “It’s alright because that’s all you cook and it’s one of major suffering of my life”

“Suna, it’s my style I can’t half-ass race like you,” Atsumu said while buckling his helmet “Now, would you sit or take a taxi?” Atsumu added and directed towards the seat in the back of Osamu.

Suna and Atsumu both inserted their keys and started the engine of bikes together, this is usually how they drive. Suna’s apartment is not far from there, They have known each other since high school. Suna wanted an apartment in the same building as them but there weren’t any free now and they don’t rent a whole apartment to one person even though it’s quite a small apartment, their owner is a sucky old bastard; he once kicked them both out for not watering plants. So suna has to take one near them.

Atsumu liked driving his motorbike, isn’t it pleasant when you feel wind play with your hair, everything going into slow motion when you take a turn. The world outside feels like a whole different world. And highways in the night aren’t much crowdier so it’s the best time for driving.

“What are we going to eat?” remembering that he hadn’t had anything more than two balls of onigiri.  
“I don’t know, I lost my appetite and it’s going to be too late when we reach and I don’t feel like cooking this late” Osamu’s voice sounded quite muffled because of the helmet and wind.

“I don’t have much appetite either”

“Is it because you lost?” His most words were lost in the wind but Atsumu can make out what he is saying.

“Can you stop with your ‘is it because you lost’ trap? I already knew I couldn’t win today but that doesn’t mean I can’t. You see, one day I’m going to win” Atsumu said proudly, his voice is also coming out quite muffled 

Osamu didn’t reply because he knew his brother is quite passionate about whatever he does and he is sure he is going to win someday.

Hearing his brother didn’t say Atsumu assumed that his brother believed in him and waited for him to win. This made a warmth spread in his heart and a feeling that constantly tells him that his brother is there for him.

“Make sure to not die,” Osamu said after a while which sounded like he was repeating some boring-ass chapter summary in literature.

“Like heck, I’m dying,” Atsumu said with a fake and almost real smugness

They mostly drove in silence now they are in the inner city. Atsumu checked his mirror and Suna wasn’t much behind. 

At a turn, Suna waved his hand at their bike. Atsumu obligingly stopped. They are near a subway station, And their home isn’t much far from here.

“What?” Osamu questioned.

Suna removed his helmet. He had an expression that said; you guys probably won’t agree but there is no way I’m going to do this without you.

“What’s going on that rotten mind of yours?” Atsumu squinted his eyes. He pretty much can guess what’s going actually, but still continued.

“Let’s grab lamb skewer” now he had that overly stretched clown smile.

“Ohk” Atsumu and Osamu replied in unison

“WHAT???” 

“You yourself threw this mini party and now you are confused,” Osamu answered

“I never said I’m going to pay, I was just shocked that you guys agreed on my first proposal” Suna explained.

“What’s your second proposal?”  
“Where we are going to eat? let’s do it fast otherwise, it would be too late and you know I don’t like eating at night and since suna is paying I can’t say no” Atsumu interrupted and fleshed his full toothy grin which says you yourself bought open this.

“Ok” sighing in defeat “Just two shops far from here there is a Diner, stop there” 

All three of them finished their part of the skewer in no time. Suna paid. They again started their bikes and started riding. It wasn’t long before they had to say goodbye at their usual spot nearby ivy park, it isn’t ivy park. They just like to call it ivy park because all of the bricks of the park are covered with ivy. From here Suna takes left and they go straight.

Hinata shifted in his bed and his alarm went off, he shut off it and went to sleep again. After some good 30 minutes, he woke and searched for his phone, eyes closed, pressed the power button and looked, Oh god he is 30 minutes late. It’s 7:30 already, this worked like a water bucket on a sleeping person.

He got up, made his bed, and went to the bathroom for a quick routine. 

Got changed into his office outfit really fast, good thing they don’t specifically force you to wear a tuxedo daily nor do they force you to wear tailored pants and shirts. It's only mandatory when there is a meeting, they usually have meetings on Friday apart from the occasional one for the week summary god bless today is Wednesday and he doesn’t have time to arrange his suit. He just wore his plain white dress short and grey trouser. 

“Kenma” Hinata called, he was trying to fix his hair. They are so extra fluffy after every wash that it’s hard for him to comb them and give it a proper hairstyle.  
Once a girl in the office asked him if he needed a comb.

“Kenma, Shirabu” he repeated

Shirabu emerged from his room all dressed and toothbrush in hand, Hinata doesn’t get it why brushing their teeth is not the first thing he does he always brushes his teeth after doing everything. He pointed towards kenma’s room and said “Slippin”, with that he went to wash his mouth.

Hinata replied with a nod and stormed towards kenma’s room 

“Kenma, wake up” a knock  
“Kenma” another knock  
“Kenma”

This time kenma replied with a hmm

“Let’s just get a toast and milk, we don’t have time for a big breakfast”

Hinata opened the refrigerator and took out milk and bread. He turned on their toaster 

Shirabu enters kitchen just in a minute, starts putting toast into the toaster

“Because of last night, none of us could wake up”

“What did you do?” Hinata squinted his eyes and started pouring milk into the glass.

“Nothing was just scrolling through youtube and sleeping on the sofa, and next thing I know you guys came,” he clapped his hands “oh I remember we have mochi ” Shirabu reached for freeze and took out mochi.

“I won’t have more than one piece because I’m in a hurry and it’s hard to chew it fast. I don’t want to end up in the hospital instead of office”

“Agreed” shirabu checked the toaster and filled another batch.

Both shirabu and Hinata did complete their breakfast just in time. It's 8:15 so Hinata would be fine.

“Do you think my hair is fine?” Here comes shirabu’s daily question 

“Usual”

They both are wearing their socks and shoes. 

“You guys should at least have eggs ” Kenma popped from kitchen  
When he left his room, they both had no idea.

“We are in hurry, you just remember last night’s proposal do that”

“Which one?”

“To vacuum”

“Ok, Goodbye” with that he started to scroll on his phone screen.

“Bye” 

Shirabu also started scrolling on his phone, Hinata pressed the elevator’s button, he remembers he didn’t check his emails since the last afternoon and started checking his mail. There was nothing new to update he sighed. Elevator chimed Aone in, they both did head nod, Hinata remembers about his anxious friend from last evening.

“Yesterday someone was looking for you” 

Aone turned to him. He is so big that sometimes it’s scary but funny at that same time. He frowned, Actually, it always looks like he is frowning because of his eyebrows.

“You mean Futakuchi, Umm the one who drives me to work”

“Yes”

“Yeah he also mentioned you, thanks for being kind” after saying thanks he started looking straight again, this may be a signal that he is done talking.

“It’s all right,” Hinata understood what Aone meant.

Shirabu was staring at him and had the expression which can be interpreted as; this awkward guy talks to you unbelievable. Actually, it’s more understandable because he often can’t comprehend that this rock guy can actually speak.

Elevators chimed, signalling their arrival. Futakuchi was waiting for Aone as usual.

“Say Eita-san my hello and let’s invite him to go to Akita Kanto with us” Hinata literally animated the thought of going together with everyone. He knew shirabu can’t deny this offer. Eita Semi is literally the only friend, office college he has. And they are close, Semi is literally always flirting with shirabu but he is thick-skulled according to kenma.

“Yeah I will” shirabu looked up from his phone and replied with a bored expression  
“Aren’t you excited to go?”

“I’m not like you, who gets excited over imaginary trips”

“I checked our schedule and festival day, we can go on the last day, and I promise it would be fun”

“Yeah, let’s see what happens”

“I’m going to ask lev too, finally we can go together”

“I didn’t say yes” shirabu with a defeated sigh because he knew from now on what he is going to have is a pointless conversation.

“You just said yes right now” Hinata with his iconic cute raised eyebrow.

Shirabu just ignored him “Bye, see you in the evening”

“Bye shirabu”

Hinata planned to take the subway, as usual, the subway station isn’t much far from their place, so he decided to increase his pace so that he could be on time. As soon as he reached Shimbashi station in Minato city, after an unchanging journey from his home station. This is actually the closest station to his company’s building.

Subway is filled with tons of people, as usual, everything's the same if you take a subway on your way to the office or office to home. They make life more monotonous actually. It’s like looking at a washing machine spinning your clothes. It's the most boring thing to ever do. No one would willingly do that; it's a waste of time but completion of your task, subway works in the same way. But this time you are a cloth, a part of the process. 

He started another fast pace walk to his office.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was sick so I couldn't update on time sorry. If there is something you want to share please comment and let me know, it's good to hear from you guys.
> 
> Thanks for leaving kudos guys:p
> 
> love you


	4. The Bubble

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It felt ecstatic to be there at night, where no external sound could touch you and shake you. If you believe in multiverse bubble theory. This is precisely how It felt like, What lies outside of this bubble can’t interfere with you but everything is extremely transparent, transparent enough to give you a sense of liveness and transparent enough to disturb you and remind you about all the chaos that world is in, and to disturb you about all the possible outcomes from your single different action.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so stupid I sent Kageyama Germany and now I need him, gosh what was I thinking. I know it's a little boring here but I hope good part comes too like if I allow myself :p, lol.
> 
> Have a good day.

He messaged lev not for asking about that imaginary trip he planned an hour ago, he just remembered that it’s been a month since he last messaged or called him. 

He entered the office building, wished good-morning to anyone who passes by and walked to his cubicle. Oikawa isn’t here yet. Their cubicle is next to each other. He scrolled to his social media, it’s always the same; meaning it’s different but at the same time everything feels the same about it anyway. Suddenly the idea of searching Atsumu popped into his brain, he searched Miya Atsumu on Instagram. There were so many searches he patiently started checking each result, luckily forth one was atsumu he was looking for and his account is public what a stroke of luck.

There was a picture of atsumu with the bike in the night, which could be concluded as his recent post. This guy plays volleyball, there were so many pictures of him in court, holding a ball or a clip or him setting for a guy. Those all posts intrigued him more; he scrolled further, and Atsumu had a picture with a guy from last night the winner of the race. He checked the tagged guy @suna.rintarou, this guy also posted the pic with bikes but more bikes and he is quite popular. At least this is what can be concluded from his insta. Hinata pressed back and started checking highlights of atsumu. He wondered if he should follow atsumu. But immediately disposed of the idea because he remembers that Atsumu doesn’t even know his name, he would just end up looking like a creep and worst possibility a crazy fan. And he wanted to leave none of this impression because he was none of them.

“Oi chibi-chan, finally deciding to add someone in your mind-numbing boring life or planning to murder a guy who called you short in the subway?”Oikawa chirped, he has this not so serious playing around expression when he spoke that.

“Good morning Oikawa-san” Hinata offered a smile

“Oh morning, what you were doing before, you jolted when I called you”

“Was just immersed” Hinata explained with a simple smile “Oikawa-san do you happen to know anything about street racing?” Hinata continued

Oikawa pulled out his chair and put his bag on the table.

“Yes, they are dangerous. There is the possibility that you might end up in jail, for driving reckless or god knows for killing someone while driving. It’s an underworld thing.” Oikawa answered in a most dramatic way and he also started waving his hands, which makes everything more dramatic.

“No, I’m asking if you know how they are organised, where they choose their candidates and all ” Hinata interrogated 

“No, but I want to know it seems an interesting thing to do and maybe watch” Oikawa has a habit of putting his hand on chin whenever he considers something. “Do you know anything?” he cross-questioned.

“Yes, I actually went to one, last night” Hinata accepted

“What” Oikawa chimed with excitation “Now, tell me everything, every detail”

Before Hinata could answer Oikawa, their boss interrupted and assigned them with their today’s goal and left. Everyone started working on their respective cubicles, it’s pin-drop silence.

“Chibi-chan” Oikawa whispered he also put a hand on the side of his mouth in a more dramatic way.

Hinata turned towards him. Looking at Oikawa’s face he knows why he is calling him. Uttering an apology in advance to his neighbour's cubicle he described everything to Oikawa.

“Woah chibi-chan you are a lot more adventurous than I thought” Oikawa marvelled and formed an O with his mouth and kept staring at the blank for a minute.

In lunchtime, there were several female workers hovering over Oikawa like bees to honey, they always cooked something for him. Hinata doesn’t get it like how, how they wake up this early and cook, do they even sleep or cook before going to bed. God knows seriously. Well, there is no denying the fact that Oikawa is handsome and has better height than the average guy, he isn’t average at all. Whatever he is glad it’s not him, otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to eat anything.

“Chibi-chan” Oikawa chirped

Hinata got a shock through his body, men that’s really embarrassing someone calling you that in front of girls. 

“Let’s grab Lunch” Oikawa offered

“Aren’t we are feeding the same thing to you?” one girl spoke

“Yes, we cook all of this for you”

“You always ditch us” 

“Yes” they all agreed in unison

“Do you realise this is an office if this is what you want to do these sort of things why don’t you go out?” Imaizumi had his fist clenched, he was glaring at the group.

“Sorry” they all spoke in a low tone.

He gave them all the last stare and left.

Hinata cocked his head when Imaizumi-san entered how come he didn’t notice him and why he said sorry to him he didn’t do anything.

“Let’s go” Oikawa grinned, those girls left and he is standing next to him.

“Yeah” Hinata shut off his system and got up to leave.

They left their office building and walked to their usual place to eat which is not far from their office, it’s two-block away only it has a black interior and it’s decorated with lots of plants. It's a really simple interior with good quality of food, and it doesn’t cost much. That’s why it’s Hinata’s favourite place to eat. They ate in silence, they were just looking out of the window and finishing their food. 

“I wonder what they are building over there” Hinata muttered with his mouth full of rice.

“I heard it’s one of a new branch of Onigiri Miya”

Hinata started coughing and his throat started to burn. Oikawa placed a glass in front of him. His eyes got all watery. He drank a whole glass of water in a second.

“Gosh, slow down you are going to choke again,” Oikawa said with a concerned expression.

“Thanks, I’m alright” 

“Let’s not talk, I don’t want you to die on me”

“Stop being dramatic, I’m fine now” Hinata wiped his mouth. He picked his chopsticks to start eating again, but it’s scary to eat that one bite just after choking. Onigiri Miya is the same Miya he met last night, he is confused. Someone was talking about it also. But there is no way it could be the same, Miya.  
He reached for his salad, Oikawa was staring at him.

“What?”

“God where the fuck is your brain, did you put in the washer last night and forgot. I asked for sauce-like three fucking times and you are just staring at your rice.”

Hinata’s ear became red. He passed sauce to Oikawa.

“Did you finish your assignment?” Hinata asked to erase the embarrassment from earlier.

“It’s halfway,” he said with a casual shrug.

“Yesterday, I saw your car in the parking lot. Were you waiting for Imaizumi-san ?” Hinata picked his vegetables and started eating.

“Yes, apparently iwa-chan likes to overwork himself and doesn't want to enjoy his life.” Oikawa started pouting his lips

“Did he tell you to wait a minute, then bought you ice cream on the way to home?”

“Yes, he did exactly the same” Oikawa agreed and started nodding frantically. 

Oikawa can be really dumb sometimes, but he isn’t dumb sometimes he acts like one and sometimes he really is. This one is acting Hinata knows.

Hinata finished his lunch first and started checking his phone. Kenma sent a picture of a clean apartment in their line group. This put a smile on his face, he replied to the picture with a smiling emoji. He opened Instagram. Natsu just posted a picture of her holding a big ass purple Teletubbie. Hinata double tapped and scrolled nothing new, he just shut off his phone and waited for Oikawa.

When Oikawa finished they both paid and left, they met Imaizumi at the entrance.

“Did you eat?” Imaizumi asked, his expression wasn’t as dark as earlier.

“Yeah, can you stop with that frown of yours from earlier you are going to look like a guy in 50’s if you keep doing that” Oikawa complained and had a pout, these two things do not go together but Oikawa makes it work anyway.

“I can’t help it” with that Imaizumi entered the office building, which means they can’t talk anymore and show any sort of signs either. It is something they both collectively agree upon. They both decided to keep their relationship low-key, right now only Hinata knows about it.

They both followed Iwaizumi, Hinata’s phone vibrated and he took out his phone. It was a message notification from lev. Hinata opened the notification lev not only replied but also sent dozens of pictures from his latest shoot.

_“You look good, especially in the blue suit ” Hinata; 2:05  
“Pastel blue one with pleats ??” Lev; 2:05_

Hinata checked the picture again. Yes, this one has pleats on the area near the forearm.

_“Yes” Hinata; 2:05_

_“I also liked that one :p”  
“Are you in the office?”  
“Did you eat?” Lev; 2:06_

_“Yes, I have”  
“You?” Hinata_

_“Not yet” Lev_

_“I also want to eat something :(” Lev; 2:07_

Hinata can’t help but smile. He can imagine his goofy ass friend’s stomach rumbling in the middle of camera clicks.

_“You can eat after finishing shoot :)” Hinata_

_“Yes, only if they could finish this shoot in this year 0_0” Lev_

_“Then finish it” Hinata_

Before Hinata realised they were into their own department. 

_“Please, Talk about something you know” Lev; 2:08_

_“Ok ok, I think we both should get on our work again :p ” Hinata_

_“Agree”  
“Bye, let’s talk sometime” Lev_

_“Yeah, bye” Hinata_

Hinata turned on his system and focused on completing his task as soon as he could. He completely lost track of time. It was already 5:30 when he submitted his task. When he checked on Oikawa he wasn’t there so decided to take a peak on his system, as expected he had already finished his task. Hinata also needs to pack off. Oikawa returned with a pack of potato chips in hand. 

“You finally are done here” he extended bag of chip towards Hinata

“Yeah” He accepted Oikawa’s offer. Oikawa peaked in his work from behind.

“Your designs are getting more clean and sophisticated” He started shoving his mouth with a handful of chips. 

“Now you are going to choke” He gave Oikawa a slightly disgusted look and zipped his bag.

Oikawa said nothing and he was just completely focused on his chips. In plain white shirt rolled sleeves and eating chips like a hungry child, Oikawa still looks good, he must admit.

“Well, I think I will go, See you” Hinata picked his bag and stood up to leave.

“Wait” Oikawa swallowed

“Do you wanna join us for a drink?” Oikawa offered with a mischievous grin.

Hinata knows what exactly he is implying to, it’s just his let’s go-to bar search for someone you may like. Hinata isn’t interested in any of this.

“No” Hinata turned and started walking.

“Wait at least hear my whole plan” Oikawa pouted.

“No” Hinata didn’t turn back just waved and left.

When he reached home kenma wasn’t home, he just went straight to his room and decided to take a quick shower. When he came out of the shower he heard the click of the door, he quickly wrapped a towel and came in the hallway.  
It’s Kenma wearing formals and has a ponytail to hold his hair. 

“Welcome home, today I’m saying this to you” Hinata grinned and started combing his hair with fingers to dry them.

“Well, congratulations,” Kenma put his laptop on the table and just launched himself on the sofa.

“How did your meeting go?”

“Usual” in a monotone  
“Shouyou order food I’m not in the mood of cooking” He got up and left for his room.

Shirabu came home a few minutes afterwards. They both ordered food. Three of them ate and went to sleep, it’s their usual. This is how their life has been and in the same way, a whole work week ended.

Out of his habit of waking up early, he always wakes up early on Sunday and Saturday too. He woke up at seven remembered it’s Sunday so decided to not wake up till 9 at least.

As predicted they didn’t have much to clean, Hinata was just chilling on the sofa Shirabu and Kenma were also there. Shirabu got bored with using his phone at one point. So he was just staring at the ceiling. Hinata was just scrolling through his Twitter more like reading two random people fighting over something that does not concern him at all.  
He also shut off his phone and started a contest with shirabu in the staring wall. Originally they are waiting for 5:30 so they can go to the gym, it’s not like they can’t go right now. They just want to waste their time.  
The weekend is only days they go to the gym, Hinata spends 2 hours there and Kenma usually gets tired after one hour. The same goes for shirabu but he still pushes himself for 15-20 minutes.  
Those 2 hours are actually proving more relaxing for Hinata than his whole week, that’s why he loves working out. He meditates daily for 10-15 minutes but pushing body at its limit is more fun for him.  
“Do you wanna go out today?” he asked shirabu

“Let’s go karaoke” shirabu suggested

“Do you really wanna go there, I mean it gets really boring after a certain time period. You just really have to be in that mood to enjoy, and that’s something I am not in right now” Hinata asked again

“Well the mood can change, I myself is not in that mood and I’m just suggesting. Where you wanna go” shirabu picked cushion and started tossing it.

“I liked walking with Kenma on the bridge that day. Let's do that, Tsukuda is not far from” Hinata proposed the idea, he actually liked this idea. 

Kenma switched off his Nintendo and got up and started searching for manga from a shelf near the outside kitchen. He was half listening to all the conversation.

“Sorry, but we both won’t have the strength to walk this long after a workout” shirabu was still tossing cushion.

“Let’s make it short, we won’t cross the bridge, chill somewhere near and have a bear” Hinata suggested this way they will have some quiet time and it sounds perfect.

There was a knock on the door and before one of them could open the door they started pounding and in an instant, they knew who was out there banging their door like the end of the world.

“Here we go,” shirabu sighed and covered his face with a cushion.

Hinata didn’t want to be disturbed so he just pretended to be asleep.

Kenma had no option but to open the door because he was halfway already.  
“What do you want?” Kenma asked 

Kiyoko was trying her best to get inside the apartment from tiny space but Kenma won’t let her, she was holding her laptop in her hands. She had a messy bun and wore shorts with a tank top.

“Let me in I will explain” She begged with that same overly stretched grin.  
“NO !” with that kenma tried to shut the door on her face but she was already halfway in and as soon as kenma took a step back to apply more force she slipped in and straight-up sat on Shirabu's legs.

“There is so much space but you have to be bitch” shirabu targeted her head and threw cushion.

“You brat” she threw it back, “And I wouldn’t be here if you guys wouldn’t have changed your wifi password and not only that you also changed its range, that’s cheating” she scratched her head and started typing again.

“Come on, you use our wifi for free and call us cheaters?” Kenma really gets worked up on Kiyoko sometimes and it’s fun to watch.

Hinata can’t keep his act for long because he didn’t know when she is going to leave and from past experience not soon. He just sat up and started watching her. She is beautiful but why should she gotta be like this. Once she somehow knew the password and literally barged in at 2 AM and Kenma was the only one who was awake at that time. And when he saw someone’s shadow near the kitchen it really scared the shit out of him and he almost stabbed her with his fake warcraft sword. But she screamed at the right time and that’s how shirabu and he woke up. And when they asked her what she was doing, she said, she is pulling an all-nighter and she is out of coffee. 

Next day when they asked her how she knew the password, she said she peaked when Shirabu was typing. And they have to change their password.

“Hurry up tell me the password I need to send this mail and I have already used my daily data” She looked at all three of them.

“You are lying, just like usual, you are going to download something stupid” Hinata argued, he knew it’s nothing new for them.

“Pleasessssss” she gave pleading overly stretched smile again  
“I won’t, as soon as I send this mail. I will leave” she added

“You can’t stop anyway because we are going to the gym, Kenma tell her I don’t want a headache today” shirabu got up and left for his room  
“You two should change too,” he added on his way.

“Kenma” she looked at kenma with excitement 

Hinata also got up and left Kenma to deal with Kiyoko.

Customarily, Kenma got tired in 45 minutes but still pushed himself for an hour, shirabu also got tired.  
“I’m going” Kenma huffed, his breathing is still not normal.  
“Ohk” Shirabu as usual just sits around in the gym for 30 minutes and tries to wait for Hinata but gets tired and leaves. 

When Hinata left the gym, he was ravenous. He had pork belly, thanks to Shirabu and Kenma. They called a cab on their way to the bridge. It was 20 minutes away from their apartment. Fact is everything isn’t much far from Chiyoda city but it cost them good pennies.  
They bought beer from a store near the bridge, there were very few people at night. There were a little park and sitting area alongside the river you don’t have to get on the bridge you just take a down staircase on the starting of the bridge to get there. 

It felt ecstatic to be there at night, where no external sound could touch you and shake you. If you believe in multiverse bubble theory. This is precisely how It feels like, What lies outside of this bubble can’t interfere with you but everything is extremely transparent, transparent enough to give you a sense of liveness and transparent enough to disturb you and remind you about all the chaos that world is in, and to disturb you about all the possible outcomes from your single different action.

Hinata relaxed his muscles. They are slightly sore, not too much that he couldn’t walk. It's just a little sweet pain. Kenma was also staring at water and city lights, no phone just sipping his bear, Shirabu had his eyes half-closed. Silence seeped between them just like the flow of time.

They didn’t chat much; they  
mostly recalled their college incident and laughed their heart out.

“Shirabu ” kenma was staring at something distant.

“Hmm” shirabu gave a slow reply. You can tell beer is doing its job.

“Do you still have those nightmares?” kenma asked as he seemed genuinely curious.

“No, not after that night and I have you guys” Shirabu replied, you can clearly tell shirabu is a little tipsy because he would never say that in a coherent state.

This made Hinata chuckle.

“Why are you laughing?”  
“You are laughing at me; from next time I won’t wait in the gym” shirabu was plucking grass.

This made Hinata laugh more.

“You are laughing for exactly no reason” Kenma looked up, his half-face was covered with his bangs. 

This made Hinata giggle more. And in no time they all started laughing like crazy for exactly no damn reason. They all are light-headed. They hung out there for an hour and above and called a cab on their way.  
After reaching home they bid good night to each other and went to sleep. 

Hinata couldn’t fall asleep even after drinking, so he just laid down on the bed in hope of falling asleep. He tried all possible positions but still couldn’t fall asleep. He checked it’s already been an hour since he went to bed. He gave up, he stood up and looked outside, Tokyo is still lively. He looked up at the sky and suddenly felt lonely. It's a feeling that aches his heart little but he was familiar with it’s nothing new. He closed his window and lay down on the bed with his feet touching the floor. He mindlessly scrolled through contacts, he tapped on Kageyama’s contact and called. That’s completely impulsive because he wasn’t planning to call someone.

Kageyama picked a call in the second ring.

“Hello” Hinata spoke first.

“Hello”

“How are you?”

“Nothing just usual, why you called?”

“Because you don’t call”

“Uhmm”

“It’s alright” Hinata knows exactly how Kageyama’s face looks right now.

“When are you coming back?”

“Maybe in the next 6 months” 

“Good, I wanted to hang out with you”

“Why aren’t you asleep yet idiot”

“Couldn’t”

There was silence but not awkward it’s just comfortable silence, they often do it when they talk in person.

“You good there”

“Yeah, just professors suck every little energy out of you, you?”

Hinata chuckled “You deserve this to leave me alone, are you finally dating because you seem too busy?”

“Nah, I’m full-time study hoe actually”

“Good”

Another phase of silence passed between them.

“Good night, you should have dinner now”

“Yeah was just going to, bye”

“Bye” Hinata hangs up and goes to sleep.


	5. Friends

He wakes up at 8:30 next morning, it’s another lazy office off. But from tomorrow he has to go to the office again, this is why he has a hate and love relationship with Sunday.

Today shirabu cooked unagi for them, he was so enthusiastic about it, that time slipped like water.

“Today I’m going out with Eita-san, and I will have dinner with him” Shirabu was putting extra dishes and containers back on the shelf.

“Ohk” Kenma muttered while he was cleaning the kitchen counter, Hinata himself was cleaning dishes.

“Hey, do you remember about kuroo?” Kenma turned around to look at Hinata.

“Of course I do” Hinata chirped.  
“Let’s go today,” He added, excited to meet his old friend. Kenma must be excited too after all they haven’t met each other in a long time.

“I agree, and we also don’t have anything to do. Let’s go eat there and make him pay or cook, I’m ok with both.” Kenma smiled.

“Me too” Hinata beamed with excitement.  
“But let’s not forget Gym” 

“Let’s go earlier so that we could be there on time” Kenma was done, so he left for the hallway. “Shouyou you don’t need to train like a devil” he shouted from hallway.

“Good thing I’m devil” Hinata laughed 

But he often wonders why he pushes himself this far, is it because he feels the need to control what he can? Like you can’t control how you look, so you invest yourself in other tactics to control yourself. This is what you can call something that came with evolution a need to control things. He shakes his thoughts sometimes such thoughts come uninvited and make you feel guilty for exactly no reason, actually, this is how people are conditioned to think. He does this all to get a sense of fulfilment because he believes health comes first, and this is the sole truth.

As planned they get ready to leave for Kuroo’s home. On their way, they called a cab. Actually, his apartment is somewhere near Yoyogi. They have to cross Shinjuku than Yoyogi, Shinjuku is filled with tourists, and they don’t want to meddle in their business, or you can say they prefer a place with less crowd.

“Doesn’t it get tiring” Kenma reciprocated his feeling 

“Honestly I was thinking same” 

“I think I am a bad influence on you, In starting you liked going places like this” Kenma giggled and combed his bangs behind his ear.

“Yeah but I realised that if you go sightseeing a place where are too many people, then all you can do is look at people”  
“Observing people is my job” Kenma raised an eyebrow with a little smile tug on his lips.

“We can share a job” Hinata laughed, his eyes crinkled.

“No, what about pay and profit”

“Now, you are being stupid who is going to pay you for observing people”

Kenma didn’t say much, he started looking outside. Hinata started doing the same, after all, there is nothing more interesting than watching different sorts of people together struggling with their life. They crossed Shibuya, which aren’t far from the apartment.

“I fig….”

“It’s a pointless argument you can continue your job” Hinata interrupted and gave Kenma his iconic close eyed smile

Kenma huffed and started to watch outside again.

They reached Kuroo's in no time, there is still little light, it's not completely dark.

Kuroo receives them since it’s their first time. When Kuroo came he tried to hug Kenma but Kenma dodged.

“Why always do that?” Kuroo complained, his hands still open as if he was hugging air.

“I don’t want your hugs”

“Homophobe”

Hinata started giggling how they could both be so opposite and best friends, but Kenma told him that Kuroo was just like him in childhood when they met. 

“This has nothing to do with homophobia” Kenma was looking down.

“Hello shrimp” he had his usual sly smile

“We both are literally of same height” Hinata indicated towards Kenma

“This is racism” Kenma spoke

“Stop it we both are Japanese” Kuroo started laughing like a maniac he is

“Yes, so that wasn’t homophobic either” Kenma argued.

By just looking at it you can tell it’s a posh area, there are greenery playgrounds, oh Kuroo loves playing volleyball and baseball too. They used to play together in college too, not frequently it was once in months. But they had a fair share of fun there also.

“Hey Kuroo let’s play here sometimes, Volleyball baseball whatever you suggest” Hinata was literally gleaming 

Maybe he wants to rekindle old days, but playing a sport is always fun.

“Yes, I have a friend who plays for MSBY” Kuroo looked at them and said with a proud smile.

“Wow, who??” Hinata got curious, he can’t wait to meet this star player

“I’m also curious by the way,” Kenma asked, who was walking in the middle of them.

“Umm” Kuroo put his one hand on chin  
“Guess, what I forgot his name”

Looking at Kenma’s face Hinata can tell that he already had enough of Kuroo even though they met like 2 minutes ago after 6-7 months.

“Ohk” Kenma said with slight irritation.

“Guess what Kenma you are not listener type”

“You can meet him, he is at my apartment right now” Kenma gave them another sideways look.

Kuroo’s apartment is exactly what Hinata thought it would look like, it’s big posh well furniture with marble floors. He lives alone here what the fuck. Before Hinata could process the whole beauty of the place, he saw three guys sitting on the sofa, though he can’t see their faces two of them are currently playing a Video game on PS5 and it’s connected to their big ass LED. 

“Wow that’s really great place you got there, I must say” Hinata awed

“Capitalistic” Kenma scrunched his face.

“Thanks, shrimpy” he gave a coy smile to Hinata

“You are done here shifting and arranging everything”  
“We can help you” Hinata added

“Don’t add me in this, I’m going to leave right now if you decide to make us work like labour”

One of the guys got up, he had a soda can in his hand, he must have heard their voices. 

“He already made me work like labour for no reason,” the guy with blonde hair said, he is almost as tall as Kuroo and he wears glasses.

“Come on you weren’t alone”

“You literally dragged me here and all I did is visit this park for fresh air, goddammit I just breathed” that guy complained.

“We work at the same office, chill”

“Yes, that’s exactly where my whole life went wrong” 

Hinata and Kenma were just standing there listening to retorts and insults, they are actually funny. This made Kenma grin.

“Hey meet my college friends”  
Kuroo finally remember that they both are also there  
“Kenma Kozume, Hinata Shouyou” “Kenma and I are friends from 5th grade”

“Hi” was one of the most disinterested greetings Hinata ever listened to.  
Looking at this guy’s face clearly, he realised he saw this guy somewhere before. But can’t recall where.

“Hello, tsukishima ” Hinata extended his hand for a handshake but tsukishima ignored. Maybe he is a germaphobe or cleaning maniac.

“Hello” a disinterested reply from Kenma, he is usually not interested in people.

“Let’s sit together, have a chit-chat, then we can order here and you both forgot about that volleyball player. Kuroo said while directing toward the sofa.

Hinata couldn’t see much from behind, only a little part of their hair is visible, whoever these both guys are they are literally slumped because you can see their legs are on the table. Kenma was more focussed on what’s playing on the LED. 

When he finally reached the sofa and turned his face to look, he froze. It’s no other than Bokuto Kotaro. The number one candidate for Japan national team this year, and his hair is really all spikey. And what he is going to say to him, what if he made a fool of himself. There was one more guy Hinata tried to recognize on his face what if he is another japan team guy. He can’t see his face properly because this area is dim-lit but he really wants to know, and the way bokuto is half slumped on this guy this means they are close. So there is a high possibility that this is another volleyball guy. 

“Are you just gonna stare or sit” Kuroo called out  
“I’m bringing something for you both” and he left.

Before he realises Tsukishima and Kenma are already sitting on the opposite armchair, which only leaves space near bokuto. Hinata decided to take a seat without disturbing, and he seemed too busy. He won't notice him good thing no it’s not good at all his heart shrunk. What if Bokuto said he doesn't like talking to anyone other than his friends. 

He is really overthinking because he didn’t notice kuroo giving him a can of cola.

“Thanks” Hinata murmured

Kuroo slumped on the floor near kenma. They both were talking about something. Hinata literally had nothing to do. But this guy with glasses is ticking him off, he saw him somewhere, maybe in the subway or supermarket. He just doesn’t remember exactly where.

“Do I look like another crazy MSBY guy to you?” Tsukishima raised his eyebrow.

“No, it’s just I think we met you somewhere.” Hinata felt relief, because this thing was ticking him off from long.

“No, if I would have met someone weird like you I would have remembered.” he put his can on the floor.

“Weird?”

“Yeah someone with orange hair”

Silence proceeds again. Hinata sipped his drink.

“Bokuto, Akashi would you put console aside for a minute” Kuroo 

“Yes, last round” Bokuto finally spoke.

Hinata is now sure this is the same bokuto he uses to watch, oh my god his voice is similar.

“Come on, finish it faster, there is someone you need to meet” Kuroo spoke.

From what he saw on TV and in person in matches Bokuto isn’t a very tough guy, he is always laughing. Which relaxed Hinata more.

Akashi killed bokuto and blasted himself.

“That’s cheating, who are you siding with? And if you wanted to die, die alone” Bokuto squinted his eyes.

“Do you realise we have new guests” Akashi stated.

Now Hinata can see his face, he doesn’t seem like someone from any sports. Otherwise, he would’ve recognised him. This relaxed him more.

Bokuto is still pouting.

“Come on we have the best gamer among us, and you don’t wanna meet him?” Kuroo projected

Bokuto had his legs down and his hands folded in lap, he was staring at the score.

“Meet Kenma the gamer and guy near you is Hinata Shouyou”

Bokuto turned and looked at him because he honestly had no idea that someone was sitting next to him.

“When you came?” He squinted his eyes, Hinata’s heart was in his throat he gulped and said. “You were busy playing”

“Don’t scare kids, he watches you play and he likes you” Kuroo interrupted, he had a scary-looking grin fixed on his face. “Don’t you” He looked at Hinata and asked.

“Yeah I like especially your spikes, you are ace after all” after making this statement heartfelt at little ease. He told himself he can talk.

Bokuto unfolded his arms and sat straight and now he isn’t pouting anymore he is just staring at the screen and smiling.

“And?” Akashi asked.

“I think he is the best choice for the national Japanese team” Hinata was smiling with his eyes closed.

Bokuto stretched his chest, he was swelling up with pride. “You think so” he put his arm around Hinata.

“Yeah” Hinata couldn’t hide his blush. After all, he is his favourite player.

“So what do you do, do you also play?” He asked

“Well, I’m a machinery designer, I played in high school actually” blood rushed in Hinata’s cheeks.

“What’s that?” Bokuto squinted his eyes.

Hinata explained everything to him from what he does to what the company does and how production works.

Bokuto hunched a little and his eyebrow is knitted like he is doing some critical thinking.  
“Ohk so you draw cars,” he asked.

Akashi was just watching him quietly and sipping cola, Kuroo was actually looking at them and grinning. 

“No, he designed a spacecraft, you know those rockets thingy” Kuroo teased.

Bokuto frowned “Did you? are you a scientist?” He straightened and stared at Hinata.

This made Hinata blush more, he shifted a little towards the edge.  
“No, not that I’m not that great, I swear” 

“Thank god, So you won’t judge me for not understanding how taxes work?”

Hinata smiled, this genuinely made him smile. Bokuto is a fun guy to be around, he never thought it would be this easy to befriend him.

“No”

“Who is a gamer in both of you?” Bokuto looked at them challengingly.

“I play” Kenma finally spoke.  
“Aren’t you a childhood friend, I saw your pictures.”

“Yeah” Kenma shifted a little in his seat.

“Wanna play?” Bokuto asked. Akashi tensed a little.

“Let’s eat something before, they aren’t leaving yet” Kuroo interrupted.

“I’m leaving” Tsukishima announced

“Tsuki wait for food at least” bokuto chirped

“Don’t call me that”  
“I have things to do other than sipping cola and watching you play, bye” Tsukishima got up.  
“At least say proper bye, to new friends” Kuroo requested.  
“We aren’t friends, not even you and me”  
“Come on you always help me”  
“That’s because you drag me, I never volunteered” Tsukishima finally turned and said “See you, good night”.  
This whole conduct reminds Hinata of Shirabu, this made him grin.

They ordered pizza because that’s a common choice everyone agreed on.

Kenma and Bokuto had a match right after finishing their food. Kenma won the first-round easily, surprisingly winning the second round was much easier than the first one.

Because of dim light, he couldn’t see Bokuto and when Kuro turned on a switch he saw Bokuto is actually frowning and there is little sweat on his forehead, it’s not even that hot in here, how come he is sweating. 

“Do you think I can win tomorrow?” He asked Akashi who is now sitting where Tsukishima was sitting earlier.

“Yeah, ask your fan” Akashi pointed towards Hinata.  
“Can I?” his eyes seemed to go 1 foot deep.

“Yes of course and I promisee Next I will come and watch your match” Hinata promised and he seriously feels like going to one, it’s been long.  
“And I can’t wait to see you cannon like spikes, that goes like gwaah baam” he added.

“Really” Bokuto’s mood seems to be lifting.

“Yup,” Hinata smiled with closed eyes.


	6. Here comes the sun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hinata had a little headache since he woke up, he couldn’t figure out what’s wrong. Then he remembered that he drank at least 4-5 cans of beer. How could he forget how he ended up a giggling mess in Kuroo’s apartment and Kenma dragged him and he was fine actually. And Bokuto almost puked in the neighbourhood’s hydrangea, Akashi patted his back so that he could control himself. This made him smile, Kuroo proposed them all to stay but not ruin his image in the neighbourhood otherwise he would be kicked out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Atsumu is stupid you can conclude that.   
> By the way, I hope my characters decide to meet each other and start dating. Lmao

Hinata had a little headache since he woke up, he couldn’t figure out what’s wrong. Then he remembered that he drank at least 4-5 cans of beer. How could he forget how he ended up a giggling mess in Kuroo’s apartment and Kenma dragged him and he was fine actually. And Bokuto almost puked in the neighbourhood’s hydrangea, Akashi patted his back so that he could control himself. This made him smile, Kuroo proposed them all to stay but not ruin his image in the neighbourhood otherwise he would be kicked out.

It’s another Monday that gives him another headache and pain in the heart. Whatever it’s a regular day and he has to go he has no option.

“Not again,” Osamu irritated, putting his hands on hips.

“Come on it’s just cleaning, it’s like a ritual. And no one does rituals on a daily basis, apart from old people who have nothing left in their life.” Atsumu said as he was examining the construction site, and his brother wanted him to look at how everything was going before he went for practice. And this is the only empty time slot he has in his schedule where he clean home morning is for a walk and he can’t cut short them.

“And You have nothing left in your life other than to belittle old people” Osamu clenched his jaw.

“I would clean if you let me go from here” Atsumu looked at his brother, he knows he is angry because he always skips there shared duties. And it’s valid.

“This is the first time you are visiting the site and acting as I tied you with a pole”

“Ok”

“What ok?” his brother is stupid and confusing and Osamu feels frequent need to punch him in guts. And he is looking at people at a nearby building, how ignorant could he be?

“Samu, that guy with orange hair looks similar doesn’t he?” Atsumu indicated towards his back by a motion of moving his chin forward.

Osamu turned in a blink of an eye because he still can’t comprehend that the cute guy from that night could be real and he needs a certain type of proof in daylight. Because there are so many things that only exist at night.

He looks like the same guy, he has the same height and his orange hair is similar. He was strutting with a bag in hand, smart casual. This guy really looks ethereal with his fluffy hair and pastel blue shirt, that complements his looks.

“He looks good,” atsumu commented without thinking.

Osamu looked at his brother. He wasn't shocked, he was just surprised. Atsumu praised another guy other than himself, is he dreaming?

“You should be going, shouldn’t you?”

“Yeah, I think I will come here sometimes, bye” Atsumu put on his helmet.  
“I still can’t believe we found that strange tangerine guy here, a place like this” he added

“What do you mean by a place like this?” Osamu stared at his brother

Atsumu turned his key, turned on the engine and took a shift and sharp turn out of habit.

Osamu started examining the site. It's almost done, it’s furniture setup that’s taking the most time. This is his second branch for onigiri Miya and that’s why it’s so important for him. His brother always wanted to continue volleyball but he couldn’t do volleyball after high school, he joined a culinary course instead.  
But Atsumu supports him whenever he has off, even though he keeps being an ass to him. He is somehow nice to customers and gives excellent waiter service no doubt.

It’s just a matter of 7-8 days, then he has to look out at two places altogether. This would be a huge pain in the ass but everything seems little to him when he listens to the name of Miya onigiri as one of the best places to eat. 

Whatever he will need more support from Atsumu, but looking at how things are going in his career there is a higher chance of him upward-moving to division one teams. Which means he has to hire someone.  
This is the process he hates most.  
But he has an excellent idea: he will ask his brother to fill someone in his place. He grinned at his own selfish idea, whatever his brother deserves this.

Hinata left for the pantry, he needs a coffee right now otherwise his head will blast. When he entered the pantry he saw Imaizumi was also there and standing in front of the coffee machine.

“Boss, I need to use the coffee machine if you don’t mind” Hinata put his hand on the back of his head and smiled.

Iwaizumi turned around his face is flustered like someone caught him in the middle of an act “well, you see this coffee machine burned my hand so I punched it” he paused and look around “and it’s not working anymore, are you in urgent need?” he finally looked into his eyes and asked.

“I have a little headache” oh god it’s hurting like hell “And I can manage that” how the hell someone is supposed to manage a headache it’s not a club or bar, you ask bouncer to kick that annoying guy out and it’s out. Hinata lied.

“oh, I have a pill that you can take from my office,” Iwaizumi proposed.

“No it’s alright I am fine” Hinata lied again, his day couldn’t get any worse.

“You don’t look like you are fine, to be honest, it looks like you had wrestled with your hair” 

“Ok, I will take one,” Hinata started combing his hair. His boss is right, he looks like a mess.

The pill from Iwaizumi actually saved his day. He was about to leave his office for home.   
“Oikawa-san, thank Iwaizumi-san from my side” 

“Come on he broke that coffee machine and he has to repay for that, no big deal” Oikawa waggled his thanks like no deal.

“Ok, See you”   
“Bye”

.

On Wednesday lev visited them unexpectedly. He said this is the closest location to his shoot and he doesn’t want to go home so he will crash here today.  
Lev used to live in the same building with them and they would have never known about his existence if it wasn’t for Kenma who decided to feed his cat, who used to rest on their porch most of the time. Later when lev found out this he apologized and said it must be because there is a proper amount of sunlight in their apartment, but his cat still won’t stop coming. And that’s how they bonded with each other.

Lev has a Hyundai, once they got so drunk in a bar that they slept in a car two blocks away from their apartment. They regret this even after a year. It’s good that the cops didn’t arrest them and no one called the police, it was actually too late for people to realise that there is a strange car parked in front of their apartment building, and because of lack of comfort, they woke up early.

“How are you doing,” Lev asked Kenma in high pitch just like you speak to a cat, Lev thinks Kenma is catlike and that’s why his cat liked him. And no one can deny that actually.

“Shut up with your crap voice” Kenma irritated, he doesn’t like being called a cat.

“He is right though” Shirabu interrupted and gave lev a can of Coke, and sat on the arm of the sofa.

“I would kick you out” 

“Look, our kitty is going feral” Lev and shirabu started cracking up, Hinata also joined them.

Kenma pouted, then picked his Nintendo and started blasting his headphones and completely ignored their bullshit, he would rather look at 3-D moving figure fighting, or making them do shit that he wants.

Hinata’s phone buzzed and he saw email notification, it’s regarding meeting tomorrow just another day of listening to things and not listening to them at all.

“I like pictures from your new campaign” Shirabu chirped “Those flower shots were powerful”

“You too thinks that” lev’s chest swelled

“What about Alisa?” Hinata asked

“I don’t know, don’t ask me” Lev spread his legs, armchair too small for him most of his legs are always hanging he has a habit of lying horizontally across.

“Let’s go out, I am bored” Hinata is bored after some minutes and it’s only 10:30 yet, arguably he should go to bed but he is not in the mood. 

“Yeah” lev got up from his slouched position.

They weren’t in the mood to go to another tourist place so they avoided central Chiyoda garden instead took a left, somewhere in Akihabara.

“Lev, do you wanna go to Akito Kanto with us?” Hinata asked he is sitting in the front seat with lev.

“Where are we going?” Kenma looked up from his phone and stared at Hinata through the rearview mirror.

“Gosh, you haven’t forgotten about that imaginary trip yet” Shirabu combed his hair back

“Oh come on everything is working out the way we want and there are weekends” Hinata clapped his hands “aren’t we lucky?” he added.

“Whom did you consult?” Kenma asked

“No one” he smiled at Kenma and shirabu through the mirror.

“Why is that?” Kenma folded his hands.

“Not only that, he is trying to mix up all sort of friends, isn’t that stupid?” shirabu is adding fuel to fire.

“You have weekends, what about me, what if I had a project pending?”

“He said let’s invite Eita-san and I bet he will invite Kuroo too”

“I...” Hinata got cut

“That’s bad, that’s selfish” Lev interrupted “How could I join you If I had a pending shoot, Jesus” he added

“I just...”

“Hell if you invite Kuroo, then there is no way he won’t invite his other friends” the mere thought of mixing their friends gave Kenma anxiety he doesn't know what sort of blunder they will end up in.

“Look….”

“How dare you not ask us, I always wanted to get a vacation. I have an equal right to make planes ” Shirabu is trying to hide his crack at this point.  
“Did you ask? I bet he can make up for this trip at least” shirabu added

“Should I invite people from my modelling firm too”

“Yes, they will give you more projects if you do that” Shirabu is aggressively nodding. “Let’s ask that mountain guy you speak to?”

“How about my cat?”

“Let’s ask that favourite guard of yours?” Kenma added

“Did you ask your colleagues that charming guy?”

“Let’s pack my Xbox too”

“Let’s rent a minibus” Lev added

“I think we will need a good shopping before that”

Hinata doesn’t know where this whole conversation is going anymore.

“Ask Kiyoko too” Shirabu is grinning

“NO” Kenma and Lev shouted together

“No, just us guys” Hinata turned and looked at shirabu and Kenma

“When did we agree that we are going?” Kenma looked straight into Hinata’s eyes

“I’m sorry” Hinata pouted and made a puppy face towards Kenma, he knows now he can’t say no to the trip and argue about anything.

Kenma humphed and started looking outside. There is red light, lev slowly  
de-accelerated the speed.

“I will try to finish my project when we are going?” 

“What? You are going?, that means I need to ask Eita-san too?; Come on Kenma, you were my sole hope for not giving in, in his stupid ideas”

“What’s the problem ask him” Kenma shrugged

“In the first week of August we are going, it’s one day before closing ceremony and closing ceremony day, we will be back till 11 here in Tokyo again so we can go to work on Monday too” Hinata is literally gleaming with excitement “There won’t be more than 10 people, so we don’t need a minibus we can just take an express; And we can rent rooms in the inn” he added

“Do you by any chance try to participate there?” Shirabu asked

“Do you think I trained to balance bamboo my whole life?” shirabu is actually stupid sometimes.

There aren’t many people here and most people are walking sideways. Hinata knows this place, he hasn’t been here in a long time. It’s beautiful and quiet here.

Lev slowly de-accelerated the car and parked, and got the ticket.

“From here let’s walk” he stretched his hands overhead. This made him look more giant. 

“Not that we have other option” Kenma shrugged

“So it’s decided, lev you are coming right?”

“I said if my shoot is finished” Lev spun his keys in his finger.

“Please try to finish them”  
“I will” He gave a boring reply, even though it completely does not depend on him.

They walked towards the Kanda river from the parking lot, at night this whole place looks more beautiful, unlike other places where there isn’t any rush. Lighting and the whole atmosphere kinda makes you more relaxed. They reached a bridge, it isn’t constructed with modern architecture like the Tsukuda bridge. It’s in Japanese style which is magnificent and the parapet isn’t much high either, children need to be careful. The river isn’t wide either; it's not more than 100 Meter wide, the crossing is not a big deal if Hinata were a child he would have gone to 10 times the other side of the bridge already. 

Other Side of the bridge there is a chain of house hotels that used to be a station in the Meiji era. Most of the architecture of this place hasn't changed, you can say, because dome-shaped windows are still there and it’s highly influenced by the Meiji era. Lighting from inside of the restaurant and from the decorated railing, which is the covering boundary of the restaurant, is reflecting on the water surface and gives it the appearance of never-ending pearly beads. Which is not certainly true but it looks beautiful and relaxing.

All of them took a moment to appreciate the beauty of the place.

“Ice- cream from my side,” Lev announced.

“Woah” Hinata is amused, treated by friends without asking them is worth all types of celebration.

“Did you catch the fever?” Kenma squeezed his eyes.

“Kenma is not eating” Lev looked at both of them “What flavour do you both want?”

Kenma punched Lev in the guts not violently; it's more like a nudge to Lev.

“Vanilla”

“Ohk with anything” shirabu was more concentrated towards the girl who was dressed in maid costume and inviting people in the restaurant.

Most people besides them were high school students, they were in school dress with bags hung on the backside. This reminded Hinata of high school how he often used to get late and have meat buns in his way, the whole day in school makes you ravenous. Every individual that’s passing must have their own life, have their own favourite ice-cream flavour and have a different perspective on how they see this bridge, and this is mind-blowing.

Lev came back with four Ice-cream. 

They left the bridge and walked through the city a little, there were huge manga stores everywhere. And just like before there were students everywhere. Having students and manga stores at the same place makes sense after all. They like reading the manga too, but it’s like heaven and the best hanging out place for a student not to mention cost-friendly. Hinata liked the overall look of the place, the manga facility was not much crowded. This could be a perfect place for a date, but everyone’s idea of the date differs. So it’s not a dating hot spot obviously. 

“It’s enough of a stroll, let’s go” Hinata reminded them.

Lev took the couch, Hinata offered him the bed but he denied he said he is habitual to sleeping like this. His sister kicks him out whenever they fight and he slumps anywhere he can find a place with a roof or sometimes a hotel.

.

“Can’t it wait for Saturday ?”

“No, we are out of most of the groceries”

“Look, we have to go to the mart this Sunday for trip shopping, we can shop then” Hinata is exhausted from all office hiatus.

“If you want to eat outside for a day and probably Saturday it’s not a problem for me”

Hinata’s stomach growled. He obviously didn't want to eat outside.

“Let me change” He sprinted towards his room and changed into a tank top and shorts. And took out his wallet from his pants.

“You look extra beefy in those,” Kenma pointed out.

“Let’s get this done fast I’m hungry”

They had all the items stacked up in a cart that they needed, for now, it’s one of fastest grocery shopping they ever did, because not only their dinner will be delayed, It’s the about time shirabu returns and their absence at the apartment would probably leave more confusion in his head.

“Is it all?” 

“I think we can buy the next needed stock some other time, for some days we are good” Kenma picked the cat charm, turned it over and examined it “Do you need this cat charm too?”

“No, I think I’m good” it’s beautiful brown and golden coloured but he wasn’t in the mood of buying charms, he wanted food straight to his belly.

“Ok” this is all Kenma said in the meantime.

“I don’t get it why we need to go there”

“She is pestering me from 2 months”

“She never remembered about us before, did she even planned to look after us?” Atsumu put an extra frozen corn packet in the cart.

“She didn’t, but I can’t postpone it anymore” Osamu sighed, his brother is hard to convince especially whenever it comes to their relatives. Most of the shopping is already done, they were out of groceries from last night. But none had enough time in hand to come over to get some essentials, and the second restaurant branch’s work is about to finish so Osamu has to pay more attention to the work there also.

“I don’t want to go” was the only defeated reply Atsumu could make because he knew his brother has to manage all of their relatives and he can’t keep them at his back for a longer time. Afterall his brother manages everything from managing the name of Miya to his relatives, because of him he doesn’t have to bother with most people and it’s thanks to him he can concentrate on his career and have fun alongside. Sometimes he fights with his brother over why he doesn’t want to enjoy things and play volleyball alongside him; he always gets the same reply.

He picked a pack of steak and put it into the cart, there was _here comes the sun_ from the Beatles was playing in the background. Atsumu unknowingly started to murmur the song.

They checked out and said their greetings to the girl on the counter, she blushed. He has this effect on people and he never gets how and why.

Atsumu stepped out of mart first, he could still listen to the muffled melody of _here comes the sun_. he saw a guy in tank top putting a bag in the taxi he was halfway inside the taxi so he couldn’t see his face and from the silhouette of guy, he could see the guy has a good build. It was when that guy finally decided to show his face and took out his upper body from the taxi, he felt like air punched him there was suddenly no room to breathe. There is no way he met this orange hair guy again. If this guy is real? where was he before? why out of blue he is seeing him everywhere he goes?

He didn’t notice, but that guy was also staring at him, and when their eyes met atsumu felt an embarrassment, he turned his face in left and started staring at a tree to make it seem like this is his job. He stares at random things. Guy finally shut his taxi window with a thud and left. He felt like his lungs had been released finally after that sudden stoppage of supply.

He could sense his brother’s presence and clearly feel that they both were thinking about the same object.

“Let’s go”

Osamu nodded so his brother could understand he didn't need to state everything.

After starting the engine and getting a few blocks away from mart Astumu broke the silence. “Do you think we are being haunted?” 

“I don’t agree with you usually, but I think that guy is haunting us”

“What type of spirit is he?”

“I’m not a spiritual practitioner”

So his brother agrees that they might be being haunted but his heart tells him otherwise.


	7. Song of rain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When atsumu finally caught a subway, he cursed his decision of not using his motorbike. He lent Osamu his bike, because of rain and he also got a ride from team anyway so he didn’t need it. There were so many people because of rain and Saturday, he didn’t want to mix up a bunch of sweaty bodies and get his feets crushed. He decided to ignore this situation more you think about people more you get annoyed. So he decided to distract himself by looking outside from the window nearby, he couldn’t see much because of his height and the standing position he is in right now, but it was enough to distract him. There was a kid sitting just in front of him she was holding a dragon plushie, she looks so happy she was talking to him as if he was alive and her friend. Good thing, people get happy by looking at things, but it wouldn’t have made them happy if they received the same thing at a different moment in another time at a different place. Materialization is crazy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoy the update; please leave a comment about how you feel and I welcome constructive comments with open arms. <3

Hinata took a comfortable position in his seat, who were those guys. They look like someone he saw earlier but where. He tried his best to remember those guys but couldn’t. And the way they both were looking at him it wasn’t their first time seeing him either, he could tell this. Hinata felt a warmth spread his heart that someone from earlier remembers him, not only that; two handsome guys. 

He was exhausted; he didn’t force his brain much, instead, he closed his eyes and enjoyed the moment. Actually, the store nearby didn't have fresh meat, that’s why they have to come a little far. He is still hungry and can devour a whole cow. 

They reached the apartment earlier than shirabu thank god. Hinata quickly started grilling beef, Kenma cut vegetables and put rice in the rice cooker. Shirabu is finally home.  
“We are late?” Shirabu quickly puts his bag on the sofa and goes into his room for a change, they understand each other’s situations without much words. This is the great part about living together for a long time and being a grown-up maybe. He returns in less than 1 minute and enters the kitchen to quickly prepare miso soup.

“We were out of grocery, so we both went for shopping” 

“Understandable” he stirred the soup and took a teaspoon out of the box and dipped into the pot, to taste the ingredients.  
Kenma is almost done grilling vegetables, Beef just requires about 10 minutes and they will be done.

They devoured the food at twice speed and slowed down after a minute.

“I called Kuroo” Kenma was chomping on a piece of beef.

They both remain silent and wait for him to finish the sentence, they both have pretty much idea what this is about. Kenma swallowed the food in his mouth.

“He will come, alone” He looked at both of them and paused a minute before picking a bowl of rice.

“Hmm” Shirabu replied and picked fried vegetables and put onto the spoon filled with rice.

Hinata picked his bowl of miso soup, took a spoon and only tasted a spoonful to check the temperature and taste. That’s when memories from the race suddenly filled his brain, oh my god. They both are the guys from that race. Now he remembers, he halts in the same position. Trying to remember everything from that day.

“You done?” Shirabu was looking at him; this comment of him also demanded the attention of Kenma. They both were looking at him.

“No, just thinking about work” He picked a bowl of soup to drink, it tasted good.

They all resumed eating, he couldn’t believe they bought his lie. But whatever it’s not something important to talk about, so he would let it slide.  
He remembers the text from Kuroo.

“Do you want to watch a volleyball match?” He asked them.

“Sure” Shirabu was quick to reply.

“This Saturday let’s go there, Bokuto will be there too” Hinata grinned as he finished that sentence. He wants to finish everything fast so that he can go and watch Bokuto play, but the match isn’t today.

“Prelims haven’t started yet” Kenma remembers this detail from Twitter.

“Yes, it’s a practise match” 

“But their practise match is great too, I have watched some clips on Twitter.” Shirabu was excited to watch them in particular, after hearing from Hinata and Kenma that they met Bokuto Koutarou.

.

It’s Saturday’s cosy morning, but black clouds in the sky were hanging low. The breeze was flowing faster, his window cracked a little after a particularly powerful gust of wind. It’s 8:30 but there weren’t any sun, just black clouds making the whole atmosphere darker than usual. Hinata checks for his phone beside his pillow. He lazily checks mails to see any detail, it’s more like a habit. Because there is a good possibility of him receiving nothing on Saturday morning. 

He got up to check outside. He opened his windows, he held onto the window to stop it from making more loud thuds. There weren’t many people outside as expected from Saturday morning, apart from people who work daily like Guards and maids. A strong gale bent all trees southwards, apart from trees there wasn’t much sign of strong wind. He looked up, most sky was black and some parts were while, not pure white just some really light shade of grey. Birds from faraway were chirping, some were flying low in the sky.  
A sudden gust of wind flows towards his direction, he can smell a faint and subtle smell of petrichor. He took a step back and closed the windows and latched it. 

He quickly brushed his teeth. Went to look outside, Kenma was sitting on the dining table and reading the newspaper; upon hearing creek from his door Kenma tossed the newspaper aside, he turned and looked at Hinata.

“Shouyou, wanna do gym earlier today? We have to go to the match too”

“Yeah, let’s wake up shirabu” he turned to trace the way to Shirabu’s room

“He already got up, in fact, he was the one who woke me and I already asked him”

Hinata took a fast pace walk towards the freeze to make breakfast.

They called a taxi on their way to the stadium, it started pouring after hours of thundering. The rhythm of raindrops was painting all sorts of sounds from its heavy presence, indeed music to lost to. Every sound is submerged in the patter of rain, it’s relaxing. Hinata opened a little bit of window, close enough to not let water pour in his face and open enough to feel it’s liveliness. 

The driver pulled the car in front of the stadium if he didn’t know there was a practice going on he would never know. There were two buses pulled outside of the stadium, this must be a team’s buses, he just has a vague idea. He was ready to see bokuto in action, and excitement bloomed in his chest. 

“Let’s go” He looked at them grinned.

“You need to inform Kuroo that we are here” Kenma informed, Kenma in a brown raincoat looks oddly cute, his hair is a little damp and sticky to his forehead.

“Yeah”

“We can stand where it’s not pouring please” Shirabu’s bangs are also little sticky to his forehead, this reminds Hinata of his own. He pushed his hair back damn they were sticky.

Once they are in a shaded place he makes a call to kuroo.

“Hello, we are here”

“Yes come inside, we will meet you there.” Hinata hangs up the phone. Shoved it into the pocket of his pants.

“Let’s go, he is inside” He tapped his feet on the pavement to get rid of all the dirt that was stuck.

The whole atmosphere is quite damp, he can feel it and there weren’t many people they met hardly anyone in the way, maybe everyone is already in.  
On the end of a long corridor, there is a giant hall space, where many people are waiting for the match to start. They all are scattered.  
“Hey” they quickly recognised this voice that came from their left, they turned their head. Oh, here he is, the guy near him is the one they met last time on their visit. He is in a pale t-shirt and his round glasses made him look attractive. 

“Are you drinking coke again?” Hinata didn’t notice they were standing near a vending machine.

“No,” a grin stretched Kuroo’s face. ”Hello” he extended his hand towards shirabu, shirabu accepted immediately; “He is Aakashi” he continued “They both already met him”

They said their greetings to him. Aakashi has a gentle touch the way he speaks and holds the hand, he is elegant and his voice is honeyed. If anyone drools over him he won’t be surprised. 

“Match is starting” Aakashi looked at the digital watch on the opposite side, Hinata turned to look at it's 1:50 already, he didn’t notice there was a subway counter there too; covered with its authentic green.

“Let’s go” Kuroo threw his arm over Shirabu’s shoulder “Don’t forget my company is willing to invest if you know” they both started laughing.

With them some people also start to move towards the stairs, they look right after reaching the first floor.   
It’s the usual stadium scene with lots of grey chairs to sit. They look in the front row, a spiking drill is going on both teams are doing their final practice. He could easily spot bokuto because he saw him so many times to recognise him from a shadow or maybe side profile of him. It’s Bokuto’s turn and he hits a straight, just near the boundary. And this is the grace of his spikes: you never get tired every time you feel equal excitement.  
As soon as he hit a straight he looked at their side, Hinata couldn’t help but flash a smile and show a thumbs up. 

“I hope you know that we are under a solid roof and it’s not raining here” Kuroo is grinning at him

Oh god how he could be this stupid to not take out his raincoat, he looked at Kenma and shirabu they both didn’t have any.

“When did you take out” without waiting for an answer he started unzipping his coat. ”Where did you put it?” he asked

“Just dispose on some chair”  
“You were too busy looking everywhere” shirabu leaned on the pipe to look at him “You weren’t looking ugly, so we didn’t mention” they started laughing, Hinata combed his hair back.

“They are tossing” Kenma looked at him as if waiting for him. He quickly put the coat on a chair and fixed his t-shirt, he combed his hair back and they are still damp.

From far away he couldn’t see and hear what captains were saying, and what is the result?  
“What are they saying?” he asked, no one answered. It looked like they all were trying to listen to what they were saying.

They don’t know the result of both teams taking their position in court, someone from Bokuto’s team is serving first, he couldn’t recognise this guy from his backside. Maybe he is someone new or he could be doing some sort of mistake, this time he tried hard. Guy took enough distance from the line to serve, he has blond hair and an undercut. He served a nasty serve but the opposite team, however, picked it but too high the Libero on the opposite team couldn't receive it properly, so the ball was again in Bokuto’s team side. The same guy that served is now putting on a set for Bokuto and he hit a cross across the court. Bokuto is really something in-game.

“Oy Tsumu, that was perfect” Bokuto raised his both hands to do high fi with his setter.

“Thanks, Bokuto”  
“This is too early to celebrate” they can feel Sakusa’s gaze from the back row.

“It’s tsumu’s first day so I’m encouraging him” Bokuto patted Atsumu’s back.

“It’s alright, I’m good” he didn’t say for formality, he actually didn’t feel any sort of nervousness and he isn’t over-excited and Overconfident to not think clearly. He can rely on his capabilities and years of practice.

Winning the first set wasn’t much of a deal for them, no one was expecting Atsumu as setter so it blew them little and their team was great. But winning the next sets would be a little problem as teams get familiar with each other’s rhythm a little bit.

“Atsumu focuses their middle too, we hit too many left. I’m sure they would focus their defence on left” their coach is Yamato, he is a guy in his 40’s he is an experienced well known international volleyball star. 

Atsumu put the bottle on the bench, wiped the sweat off his brows from the back of his hand. There is nothing to worry, he got monsters by his side and he can use them as he wants, this is where he always wanted to be.  
And no one in the opponent team much caught his attention, he enjoys playing volleyball that’s why he is here not because he always wants to win.

“Let’s get this set too” his voice came much deeper and rough than usual.

“Yeah” everyone in the team nodded, their eyes fixed on-court, their mindset is made up, they all need to do their best and their teammates are on their side. And they believe in each other’s abilities.

They won the second set too, Sakusa's serve was astonishing and hard to receive. This set gave libero and people in backline trouble but they are done with it.

“Bokuto you did good, go get next” someone from the audience shouted.

Woah Bokuto didn’t do this all alone, it's everyone’s equal effort, but people can shout as much as they want. He doesn’t care about getting crazy fandoms and all, he loves giving his best to his spikers that’s all.

“Hey, Hey, Hey” Bokuto replied  
“I’m gonna win this, my number one pupil” he has his hands-on hip and his chest all puffed up in the glory of being an ace of one of the best teams in japan.

“Atsumu, can you do floaters this set” Sakusa proposed

“Yeah”

“Otherwise, it will set a rhythm”

“Hmm, it’s a practise match right?” Aran asked

He got a stare from Sakusa, without replying he reached for the box of package bottle and opened a new water bottle

“Yeah but let’s give our everything, these matches can continue for after win or loss. There is no problem in knowing all players, this is gonna help in volleyball league too” 

As predicted they had no problem winning the third set too, but the opposite team denied to continue, they can’t continue without their two of spikers.

Whatever it doesn’t matter, their team wouldn’t have trouble handling their major hitter either. He just joined MSBY a week ago, but he already believes in his team; 1. Because he saw them play many times so it isn’t problem 2. He won’t like to accept this but everyone is quite flexible and inviting towards him as their new setter, so he never felt out of place.

“You will come to tomorrow’s practice?” Bokuto asked him  
“Yeah I will”

“You both” Meian is looking at them “Joining us for a little sandwich? we all are going”

“Count me out” Sakusa pulled his bag on shoulder and put his mask on.

“Why?”

Without answering Meian’s question, Sakusa left.

“I think I will join my friends” Bokuto humbled himself; “There is one of my friend you should meet him, he is a crazy volleyball fan, I think you will like him”

“I would go help my brother” Atsumu picked his bag and started walking, he hoped he could help his brother a little. He left the inauguration in a hurry too because of the volleyball match. This is all support he could provide his brother, it’s not his fault he chooses restaurant chains as a career. He sighed and zipped his jacket.  
Bokuto is still walking beside him.

They exited the court.

“Do you still mop around, if you do I won’t handle it I am already warning you”

“no, tsumu” Bokuto looked at his shoes then looked at the ceiling “I’m just an ace after all”

“Good, you did well today” before he could stop himself, these words left his mouth. He is going to regret this.

“Really?” now Bokuto is halfway leaning in front of his face with twinkling eyes; good Atsumu

“Bokuto”, an exciting voice, drew their attention.

He whipped his head in the direction of the voice and there was a group of guys standing near the vending machine. One of the guys from the group jumped to their side.

“Bokuto you are invincible” a guy in sage coloured raincoat jumped, this is the same guy that’s been haunting him. To put it in a better way a ghost that’s been haunting him, and why in the hell he is here. 

“Did you see?” Bokuto stepped in front of the guy and closed his fist like he was waiting for more.

“Yes you were great, your spikes are like boom.....gwah”

“Hinata, did you see my spike for the last point?” good so this spirit has a name, and it watches volleyball too.

“Yes it was incredible”

“So, you are gonna come to more matches?” he looks more handsome than before, that night this guy was on the more cute side. Maybe because of the hair but he still looks cute with a raincoat, actually cuter. 

Their eyes met, atsumu quickly turned his face. It felt like he would burn to death because of embarrassment. Looking at the subway reminds him of his brother, oh god what he is doing here? He should have been to the cafe right now, and why is he standing here? A train of thoughts hit. He felt bad for his brother and for his own sake too because he will kick him out of the apartment if he doesn’t reach there on time. 

“Excuse me” And without sparing any glance to Bokuto and anyone he sprinted out of the stadium, he finally released the breath he was holding. You got this; he told this to himself and left.

When atsumu finally caught a subway, he cursed his decision of not using his motorbike. He lent Osamu his bike, because of rain and he also got a ride from team anyway so he didn’t need it. There were so many people because of rain and Saturday, he didn’t want to mix up a bunch of sweaty bodies and get his feets crushed. He decided to ignore this situation more you think about people more you get annoyed. So he decided to distract himself by looking outside from the window nearby, he couldn’t see much because of his height and the standing position he is in right now, but it was enough to distract him. There was a kid sitting just in front of him she was holding a dragon plushie, she looks so happy she was talking to him as if he was alive and her friend. Good thing, people get happy by looking at things, but it wouldn’t have made them happy if they received the same thing at a different moment in another time at a different place. Materialization is crazy.

There is still time before sunsets, he texted his brother about his arrival.

“What took you so long?”

“Fucker, It’s volleyball, not paintball” Osamu finally emerged from behind the counter.

Atsumu dropped onigiri from his hand and explained to him everything about his match, how his serves went and every detail of each member’s play.

“Shut up, my ears will start bleeding” he finished cleaning and slicing three tuna but his brother won’t shut up.

“There was the guy from that day too”

“If you speak, I won’t feed you anything for 2 days”

“Why” Atsumu is frowning, he didn’t do anything but his brother is being a bitch now.

“3 days”

He realised it's a waste of time to argue with his brother so he shut up and helped in arranging the decoration of the place, then he started cleaning some dishes from the kitchen sink and arranged the stock of rice in the pantry.

“Hey, you done there?”

“Yeah”

“let’s go” Osamu started closing windows 

“Hey, You were talking about some guy?”

Atsumu sat on the table put his hand’s little backside from his torso, to lean a little “That guy in orange hair, was in my practice match” he was staring at the ceiling as if trying to remember details of his face “His name is Hinata”

“He was in opposite team?” Osamu is a little shocked but not surprised, such coincidences always happen, it's no big deal.

“No, he just came to watch our match”

“He must be close to some player” Osamu closed the last window.

Atsumu gets up from table still trying to remember more details about the guy; “He is Bokuto’s friend”

“Make sense”


	8. Pale Morning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry guys for being an ass with updates, I wish I could write better to post more. I'm really sorry.
> 
> And thank you so much for reading this and continuing this and waiting for an update I can't tell you how great it feels, though I feel sorry for being such ass with updates and moving story at really negligible pace. 
> 
> I hope you like it. Thanks for reading.

Maybe it’s coincidence seeing the same guy again and again, or fate. God knows what, but this is one brutal game, Hinata had these feelings that won’t go away. He picked a piece of tuna and put it in his mouth, he isn’t hungry anymore maybe they had lots of drinks. They decided to spend their evening together, they gave bokuto a hand in practice too. It was fun playing again, he felt everything in his mind quickly rushing and he couldn’t name it one particular emotion; it’s weird naming a whole bunch of feelings, how do people end up naming them one.   
They played in 3-3 sets, he played with Bokuto Akashi. Today is one of the best days he got to play with his favourite and they all played volleyball in high school.   
And bokuto didn’t seem to mind them either, he appreciated him too. So it’s good.

He doesn’t remember being friends with these guys, and he doesn’t know how they bonded so quickly.

“Bokuto, when is your next match?”

“You mean official?” he had a chicken wing in his right hand.

“yeah”

“Is it ok with you if I tell you, I don’t remember the schedule” he is pouting and trying to remember, he looks more cute than badass right now.

“Yeah, I’m good” Hinata chuckled.

“Give me your contact number or something, so that I can message you,” Bokuto said after giving the idea enough thought.

Hinata paused in his moment for a second, they are friends now so it’s alright. He is sitting with him now so there is nothing to be shocked about. “Hmm, I will,” he said looking at bokuto. He is happy and he can’t hide this nor did he intend to a bit.

“So you won’t need me anymore” They all laughed at Kuroo’s pout.

“Come on, I won’t go without you”

“Yeah, dude” Shirabu’s cheeks are red from drinking too much, he patted Kuroo's back “Don’t cry”

“I’m not crying” Kuroo shook shirabu’s hand away. It’s fun watching Kuroo get embarrassed

“You were crying” Kenma commented with a smirk, they all started laughing.

“You all are done? Aakashi asked, no one is eating anymore, they are chatting and making fun of each other.

“Yeah, let’s pay and go” Hinata was first to get up because he saw a waiter eyeing them. It’s better to leave anyway, it’s 10 PM already. Hinata took out his wallet and his card to pay, aakashi pushed his hand.  
“I got this” he was smiling but he was serious. Hinata could sense it.

“Come on it’s unfair” He argued back

“Let me Akaashi” Kuroo is standing near them.

“No,” Kenma shouted from the back. He got up and pushed his chair aside.

“Kuroo will pay, remember he treated us with only pizza last time” He is smirking at Kuroo

“Ohk, I was going to anyway”

“So, it’s done then” Bokuto got up from his chair, picked his bag. He stood beside Aakashi, Kuroo asked for the bill.  
“I will message you about matches and they are going to be more fun, we have a new setter too. You all met him, he was the one in the hallway with me Miya Atsuma, he got three power serves and his sets are good. He is good” Kuroo handed the card to the waiter, who returned him his cards. “It was his first match,” Bokuto continued.

“That’s why I couldn’t recognise him” Hinata remembered, he knows Atsumu but not in a close way like it was a random meeting of two ships on shore nothing more and less.  
“Yeah, me too” Shirabu joined.

It was a great day for Hinata. And he has best friends, they all are his other family. This is how things have been since he met them, they were always so considerate and understanding in all situations. Which made him feel home.

He texted Kageyama, sent him pictures from today’s match. And from the restaurant too. He isn’t online yet, he must be busy in classes and somewhere in labs. He pocketed his phone, they are just about to reach home. His thought drifted towards today’s match, he smiled at a particular memory of Bokuto acknowledging his cheer. He tried to remember more details, one particular set from the backline that sakusa hit was splendid. Atsumu is talented, there is no denying how talented one guy can be. He wondered if Atsumu will continue the racing anymore, he is good he wished he could see more. Whatever, it’s his choice and he is just a fan. 

Since when he became a fan of Atsumu? He is talented and all but you can’t call him his fan right. Good thing tomorrow is Sunday, he wants to sleep all day.

.

His phone has been ringing for five minutes, he tries to ignore it but it looks like someone on the opposite line does not want to give up. For god’s sake, today is Sunday, his last day off. Looks like someone doesn’t want him to enjoy his life.  
He finally picked the phone, face buried in a pillow. He would try to make conversation as short as possible so that he can hang up fast.

“Hmm” his voice is little husky  
“Hello, sho” without reply guy continued “I k..know it’s early but can you meet me, in your garden”

When he finally completed the sentence, that's when Hinata realised it’s Oikawa and his voice sounds like he has been crying for hours. He finally woke up, he looked at the call log to make sure it was definitely Oikawa. He tensed a little, he tried to calm down himself but couldn't, anxiety kept bubbling in his chest, he threw the blanket, pocketed his phone quickly, opened the door and smashed it with a loud thud without looking back. 

He doesn’t have time to check on Kenma and Shirabu and to tell them where he is going, he took a quick stride towards the exit slipped into his slippers. He half runs towards the elevator, after pushing the ground floor button he finally calmed down a little. Oikawa mentioned a garden; it's a garden that's situated on the side of the apartment building; he doesn’t go there, it's usually a place for kids and old people. And he doesn’t want to meddle in their business anyway, so he avoids going there.

As soon as the elevator chimed, he hopped off the elevator and took a fast pace walk towards the main gate; it’s straight from the elevator hardly two hundred meters far. He could sense his nerves finally calming down a little. He spotted the watchman Aoki sitting on a plastic chair reading the newspaper. As soon as he heard footsteps approaching he tilted his neck a little in back to look who it was. Looking at Hinata, the first thing he did was smile. Hinata bowed his head.

“Good morning”  
Aoki nods his head in slow motion, he always does this. This looks like he has all the time in this world and he is probably the most understanding, calm and wise person in the world. “Morning sho”. This made Hinata smile instantly, he felt more relaxed and calm compared to a minute ago. He could finally think clearly, why would Oikawa call him this is the first question that came into his mind. Every instinct of his told him it’s about Imaizumi, but there is no point in pressuring his own brain. He took a u-turn after reaching the end of the building.

From his position, he couldn’t see Oikawa clearly, but he could spot the black t-shirt clearly from the back. He is sitting on one of the park benches, facing the opposite side of the entrance. He took a deep breath there is morning scent in the air, it’s refreshing the wind that flowed his way carried silence and scent of freedom and the first thought that occurred to him is, why not get lost in wind and never go back and the second thing he decided is he would wake up early on weekdays too. He walked to where Oikawa is sitting, a few steps far Oikawa sensed his presence and turned his head to look back at Hinata.

He seemed to be relaxed a little bit and passed a small smile to him. Hinata noticed that he is in PJ’s too. He quickly took a seat beside Oikawa. 

“Hmm, you good,” he asked in a low and comforting voice.

“Yeah” Oikawa sighed and leaned his head on Hinata’s shoulder and closed his eyes.

Hinata didn’t dig for more details, he knows Oikawa will make him listen to all the details for more than he can count. So he should enjoy the silence as much as he can, and morning makes everything more comforting. He isn't sleepy anymore. He tried closing his eyes and relating to the morning breeze.

“What did you do yesterday?” After some minutes Oikawa asked, his voice wasn’t much loud, it seemed to be flowing with the breeze like a feather.

“Hmm, I?” Hinata shifted a little to give Oikawa more access and lean a little on the bench so that his back won’t hurt. “We went for a practise match of MSBY” he kept his eyes closed.

“Good” usually Oikawa is very much enthusiastic about matches, he loves watching them just like him. He doesn’t want to disturb the mental peace of his friend right now, so he didn’t ask anything. There is still time for sun-rise, maybe they will watch sun-rise then he could ask Oikawa to come inside.

“You like birds?”

“They are fine, but they are beautiful when they fly in the morning and before storms” he kept his voice as low as possible, he doesn’t want to disturb the whole harmony of the environment. Oikawa chuckled, lifted his head from Hinata’s shoulder and leaned on the bench instead. They sat there for some 10-15 minutes. After sunrise, Hinata stood up from the bench and tried stretching his limbs. He turned to look at Oikawa, he was staring at birds on a nearby tree.

“Let’s go inside, you must be hungry?”

Oikawa got up from the bench and yawned and did a circular motion to stretch his neck, Hinata led the way Oikawa followed him. Guard Aoki is now feeding a cat. It's probably another stray cat. 

After examining the whole hallway he can tell that Kenma and Shirabu are still asleep yet, he doesn’t intend to wake them up any way he checked the time on his phone it’s 7:35 PM.

“You guys changed curtains?” Oikawa had his hands inside pockets, he was examining the hallway too.

“Yeah, This colour matches with furniture” they had pale coloured curtains before now they are smoke green which goes with their olive green furniture. “What do you want for breakfast?” he asked.

“Eggs..?, I don’t know I’m good with anything you cook” he is looking at the ceiling for some reason.

“Yeah, first I should fresh up” Hinata moved towards his room, Oikawa is still following him like a lost puppy. 

Upon finally entering room Oikawa spoke

“I’m sorry for waking you up this early, but I couldn’t think of anyone else” he apologised.

“It’s alright, I realised morning is good too” Hinata looked at him and smiled. This is the first time he had eye contact with him, god he looks awful. Like bad for him, he is still handsome but there are dark circles under his eyes and his eyes are swollen and red.

“Did you sleep last night?” Hinata spoke in a casual tone with concern laced, Oikawa quickly turned his face away from Hinata and he was looking at the bedside table like it’s the most interesting thing ever.

“Uh, sort of” Oikawa scratched his nape a little, Hinata understood the sign so he changed the topic.

“If you want an extra toothbrush, it’s in the 2nd drawer of the table” he pointed at his bedside table and turned to brush his own teeth.

It didn’t take him long, he gave Oikawa enough space for himself. He was staring out of the window when he returned but he can see he is getting better. 

“I’m going to make breakfast, you can brush now” he smiled at him

“Hmm” Oikawa smiled.

Kenma and Shirabu are still not up, it’s near 8 and today is Sunday so it’s understandable. He leaned a little on the sofa. He didn't feel like sitting at all, so he scrolled through his phone mindlessly. He checked reply from Kageyama, he is asking for more picture and a promise to go watch more matches together with him other than that there wasn’t much, just same chaos he checked time oh it’s been 10 minutes funny how 10 minutes feel so small, He quickly checked freeze to see if they have enough ingredients. He just planned to make a simple omelette with cranberry smoothie. He heard a door shut and turned to see, it’s Oikawa. By chance, they have enough food for breakfast, but they have to go to the mart before lunch.

“We have groceries?” Oikawa asked

“Yeah, we have to go to the mart before lunch” Hinata explained, he took out two last trays of the egg “Bring spring onion and dry cranberry box too”.

“Kenma, Shirabu aren’t up yet?” Oikawa took out spring onion and cranberry packs and shut the freeze with his elbow.

“No, They all are too much cold; Should we leave them out a little for normal temperature? They both will be awake soon” he put the tray carefully on the slab.

“Sure” Oikawa took out a cranberry from the packet and popped into his mouth.

“If you are hungry, there are apples. You can take them”

“Nah, I’m good,” Oikawa took out the phone from his pocket “Do you have an extra changer?” asked without looking up from the phone.

“Hmm” ignoring Oikawa in kitchen Hinata headed straight towards their rack near the kitchen entrance, he opened the rack in one movement and there is an extra charger in the last row of the shelf. ”Here” he passed his charger “You can plug it near freeze”

“Can I stay here today? I don’t wanna go home” 

“Hmm, sure” he smiled, Hinata guessed this much, and he is happy to have his friend over here. Kenma, Shirabu won’t be upset either

They sat in the hallway for five minutes, Hinata heard Shirabu’s door creek open and close with a thud. He headed straight towards the exit of the apartment without giving Oikawa and Hinata any attention.  
“Where are you going?” Hinata shouted, in response to his loud voice shirabu turned his neck, he can tell he almost broke his neck obviously he expected the hallway to be empty.

“Parcel” he looked at Oikawa in confusion then again towards Hinata, gave him a questioning stare, turned to his heels and left without any answer. He needs to hurry. That guy has been calling him for 5 minutes but he thought it's an alarm clock so he ignored.

He came back after 5 minutes, no one was in the hallway. He can listen to a little clatter in the kitchen. He dropped his parcel near the coffee table and decided to check the kitchen. There it is. Hinata is cracking eggs and Oikawa is chopping something.

“Making breakfast” he took a quick peek at the chopping board. Oikawa is chopping green onions.

“Yeah, you should brush and wake Kenma too” Hinata started beating eggs, muscles in his arms strained. He can see veins popping from holding chopsticks tight. He quickly turned his gaze away from his hand. Without replying he knocked on Kenma's door thrice, he replied with grunt so he stopped knocking. He picked his box and left for his room.

They all ate breakfast in silence, Oikawa enjoying his breakfast. He even asked for extra.  
“I know it’s sudden, I need to explain to you why I’m suddenly here” Oikawa gulped and continued “But as much as I need to explain my presence here, I need to explain my absence somewhere too” He pushed the glass in side and looked into Hinata’s eyes “It’s just I and Iwa had a little fight, and I left home last night. I stayed at a capsule hotel for the whole night, probably crying, that’s why I called you so earlier. Thanks for letting me in” In the last sentence, he looked at three of them and gave them a sincere apology and thanks.

“It’s alright, you can stay, you are not as annoying as others” Kenma picked his glass and started drinking smoothie.

They all chuckled and the atmosphere was light before they were so tense and worried about Oikawa. And Oikawa seemed to be calmer right now, they all met before. But didn’t get to stay and spend much time with each other, he doesn’t need much time to become friends with someone, it's part of Oikawa’s charm.

In the evening Iwaizumi appeared, he apologised to everyone.

“I don’t even know you, so you can get up” Kenma slumped further on the sofa, he didn’t even look up.

“I am sorry for bothering you all” he straightened himself, he looked at Oikawa who is sitting on the floor playing chess with Shirabu.”Can I talk to you for a second?” He looked at Hinata and asked.

“Sure, come in the room” Hinata got up from the sofa and traced the usual steps for his room, he stood sideways and opened the door to let Imaizumi inside and closed the door.

“How long has he been here?” is the first thing that Imaizumi asked.

“From morning” Hinata signalled Imaizumi to sit on a chair near the bed, Iwaizumi took the seat with little hesitation “Where were you all day and night?” Hinata gave him a cold stare, he can’t believe that this is one person Oikawa spent the most time with and he is showing up now after a whole day he is in disbelief.

“Look Oikawa blocked me I couldn’t call and my parents showed up today, so I couldn’t. And they also want to see him now, so I tried calling. My mom and sister are scolding me for letting this happen, and you are the only person that came in my mind so here I’m” he held his head between his hands and looked down.

“But you could have called me,” Hinata argued. He is feeling a little hot in his ears, he is protective towards all his friends. Because they trust him and he trusts them equally.

“Sorry I couldn’t think of anything my brain was messed up” Iwaizumi finally looked up from his position and from his expressions Hinata can sense regret and apologies, he calmed down a little and felt bad for being hot headed.

“hmm” Hinata didn’t say much because he knows there is more coming from Iwaizumi’s side. They sat in silence for a minute.

“He ate?” 

“Yes”

“Do you know where he was last night?”

“Yes, some capsule hotel” Hinata finally sat on edge of bad. He didn’t respond to Hinata, he looked at his hands more like somewhere far in distance thinking about something. He spoke after some time.

“I know it’s all my fault, I should have acted more calmly”

“Hmm”

“It was just usual beef, I wanted to talk about our relationship in the company. But Oikawa doesn’t want to leave this company”

“It’s about career too” Hinata got up from the edge and leaned on the window.

“Yes”

“I’m sorry for bothering you guys” before he could finish his sentence Hinata patted his head twice.

“It’s alright, Oikawa is one whom you need to apologise to” without looking back Hinata moved towards the door and opened it, turned to look at Iwaizumi and gave him an encouraging smile and nod.

Iwaizumi got up from chair gave Hinata a small smile, he patted Hinata’s shoulder as he was about to leave the room,” Thanks man”

**Author's Note:**

> If you find a part disturbing or wrong please let me know. I will edit that out.
> 
> Thanks for reading, please leave with kudos:p


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